Six Little Rules

by rubycaspar

"There would have to be rules," Amy said. / Jake looked surprised for a moment, and then smirked. "Friends with benefits, Santiago-style," he teased. "Okay, hit me." / (Or, Amy and Jake sleep together and completely fail at putting it behind them.)

2. Chapter 2

I've had some reviews recently asking me to finish this story – truth is I finished it four years ago. It's been completed on AO3 since 2015 and I just didn't have the time/patience to tackle the update at , especially as so many more people were reading it on AO3. I don't use at all anymore, all of my new stuff is on the archive… and posting this today has reminded why! BUT I am sorry that I didn't finish it here sooner, and I hope that if you are reading it here still you enjoy the last two chapters.

CHAPTER TWO

So here's the crazy thing - it actually worked.

The first time had been kind of awkward. Only a little, nowhere near the levels of their terrible morning after, but still, you know... awkward.

The actual doing of the deed itself was fine. Okay, so Amy had worked herself up into such a bundle of nerves when Jake was on his way over that she almost called the whole thing off... after all, she didn't do this kind of thing. (This was such a screwed up idea anyway - they were sleeping together so they didn't have to start dating…how the hell had they talked themselves into this? When you stopped and thought about it, it made no sense.)

But Jake had walked through her door, and her mouth had gone dry at the sight of him, and he'd just kissed her without saying anything, and within moments they'd been fumbling their way through layers of clothing while stumbling down her hall to the bedroom. It had been just as good as the first time and, lying there on top of her covers afterwards, Amy hadn't been able to bring herself to regret it.

The silence had dragged on as they both got their breath back, and that's when it had started to feel awkward.

After a few minutes Jake had cleared his throat and propped himself up onto his elbows. "Okay, so, good work, team..."

Amy had laughed, more because she hadn't known what to say than that she'd found the joke funny, scrambled for her robe and averted her eyes while Jake got dressed - okay so they'd just had sex, but it would take her a while to get used to just casually seeing him naked.

Amy had walked Jake to the door, still completely unsure what to say - it wasn't like she had done this kind of thing before (the other time didn't count- she was allowed to be awkward then). Then, before leaving, Jake had turned back to her. She'd been worried for a moment that he was going to kiss her goodbye which, even though they'd been doing a lot of kissing that evening, seemed completely inappropriate. He hadn't though - instead he'd held up his hand for a high five.

That had done the job of snapping Amy out of her awkwardness - she'd gone from barely looking at him to full-on glaring at him within seconds.

"Are you serious right now?" She'd said flatly.

Jake grinned. "Aw, come on Santiago," he'd said. "You don't think that deserved a high five?"

"Oh my god," said Amy, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not going until you…"

Amy had high fived him to shut him up, and then immediately reached past him to open her door. "Get out you loser," she'd said, shoving his shoulder.

He'd left with a grin, and Amy had been smiling despite herself as she'd closed the door after him.

So, not as awkward as it could have been… and as mentioned at the outset, it totally worked.

The next day had been completely, blissfully normal - it was like they'd gone back in time a year, to before Teddy and the FBI and Sophia… there was no tension, no awkwardness, nothing but a secret smile every now and then.

Of course, it didn't exactly last.

The tension started up again four days later, after they'd chased a perp three blocks on foot and finally brought him down in an alley. Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was just four days later and time for the tension to tick up again, but whatever, there it suddenly was. It took another two days of heated looks, jumping when they accidentally touched and starting to avoid each other a little bit again before Jake finally sent Amy a text message suggesting he come round again, leaving Amy feeling foolish for dithering about suggesting it herself as she readily agreed.

Well, it was only their second time - they were bound to have teething problems with the... system. And as far as Amy was concerned, if actually arranging their hook-ups was the most awkward part of their arrangement, they were doing pretty well of it.

She needn't have worried anyway, because after a couple of weeks they had it down to an art.

It would usually start with a look that lingered a little longer than usual. That one look would turn into many throughout the day, and that would turn into unnecessary touches - brushing fingers when handing something over, a hand on an arm as they spoke… then there'd be a text message, confirming plans, and Jake would show up at Amy's door that night.

They never really talked while he was there- they just got straight down to business, as it were. Jake always swept Amy into a kiss that left her breathless the moment she closed the door behind him, and she would have his jacket off him within seconds. Half their clothes would be discarded by the time they reached Amy's bedroom, by which point Jake's hands would be exploring Amy's chest, and as soon as she was on her mattress his mouth would join them.

Clothes would disappear quickly, limbs would tangle, hands would wander and lips would fuse, and within minutes they'd be spent, lying next to each other, getting their breath back. Jake would usually make some kind of tasteless joke, Amy would hit him, and then they'd get dressed and high five each other before Jake left. Three days later, give or take, he'd be back.

It wasn't exactly adventurous but it was exactly what they both needed. They got their fix as quickly and efficiently as possible, and then went their separate ways. That wasn't to say it wasn't good - because it was. It was passionate and hot and oddly sincere; they both knew what they wanted out of their time together, and it came across in the sex.

It was perfect for almost two months... and then the Feeney case happened.

It started out like a normal day... well, what had become normal for them. It was three days after their last encounter and, right on schedule around mid-morning, Jake deliberately brushed his fingers over hers as he handed her a coffee mug. Amy looked up at him and he raised an eyebrow at her with a small smirk before turning away. There were more looks through the morning, their feet pressed together under the break room table as they ate their lunch, and plenty of casual but completely unnecessary touches.

It was all familiar, all leading to one inevitable conclusion, but then Captain Holt announced that the deputy commissioner had taken a personal interest in the Feeney murder and he needed everyone to work late that night. Amy caught Jake's eye across their desks and he gave her a small smile and a barely noticeable shrug - she smiled back and turned back to her work. Okay, so they'd have to wait a day. Not a problem.

Except it wasn't just a day

The case seemed to be stuck in a rut the next day, but Charles caught a break late in the afternoon, and the Captain ordered he and Jake to stake out a warehouse across downtown for the night and put the rest of them on standby in case they saw anything.

They didn't, which made it all the more frustrating for Amy, who spent a restless night tossing and turning in her bed and wishing that Jake were there with her. Well, not with her - she didn't want him there staying the night or anything, she wanted him to have been and gone already. Sheesh, given the amount of sleep she was missing out on, she might as well have been on the stake out - then at least she would have been useful, and she would have been with Jake.

Okay, no, that was messed up. She didn't want to be with Jake. She wanted to have sex with him, and obviously they wouldn't do that on a stake out, no matter how sexually frustrated she was.

And it was ridiculous just how frustrated she was given that they'd only slept together four days before. God knows she could go that long without sex without driving herself crazy, and even since she'd started up with Jake they'd gone that long before. The problem was that they'd... initiated proceedings. There'd been a whole day of looking and touching and knowing that they'd be together that night, and that anticipation was their form of foreplay. She'd developed a kind of Pavlovian response to those small smiles he sent her way on those days, and the delay was clearly messing with her sense of reason.

Jake and Charles had the morning off the next day, since they'd stayed out until 4am, and that was fine. It was good. Amy was much better off without Jake there being all distracting. (Okay, so she spent a lot of time looking at his empty chair anyway, but it would have been worse if he'd been there. Definitely.)

She didn't see him again until he and Charles walked into the briefing room during a meeting after lunch. He sat down next to her and it was all she could do not to lean sideways into the warmth of his body. She kept her eyes fixed on the Captain at the front of the room and settled for pressing her knee against his under the table, and tried not to jump when Jake grazed his hand down her bare arm as he reached for his coffee.

She was finding it increasingly difficult to keep her eyes on her work instead of on Jake when they got back to their desks, so she was glad when Rosa asked for her help going over witness statements in the break room. She wasn't so glad, though, when they found repeated mentions of another warehouse across town, and the Captain suggested that she and Rosa conduct another stakeout that night.

Jake made a quip to Rosa about not eating in Amy's car as they were leaving, but his smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and Amy found it difficult to get the memory of the intense look he gave her out of her head while she sat hunkered down in her car for the next six hours, eyes trained on the empty and undisturbed warehouse.

The break in the case came, finally, the next day. and by the time arrests were made and confessions were taken, it was looking like another late night finishing off the paperwork. Jake and Rosa had made the arrest, so they had more paperwork than the rest of them (even leaving aside how long it generally took Jake to get through his paperwork), and so even though Amy was done by half nine, Jake was still making his way through a mountain of forms.

His tie was gone and his shirt was partially unbuttoned and his hair was messy beyond belief, and Amy was clearly going insane from sexual frustration because she found herself thinking that he looked adorable in his scruffy state. When she stood up to put her jacket on he looked up and gave her a look that literally made her toes curl, and Amy knew she was going insane.

Well, at least the case was over now and there would be nothing stopping them the next night. Thank god for that, because it was close to midnight and Amy was still lying awake, unable to get Jake and his messy hair and that look he gave her before she left out of her head for long enough to fall asleep.

It was two minutes past midnight when her phone buzzed with a text message, her phone screen lighting up and illuminating the whole room. Amy told herself not to jump to conclusions as she sat up and reached for it - after all, she received drunk texts from her brothers in the middle of the night all the time - but it was from Jake.

r u awake?

Amy bit her lip. It was gone midnight, and they both had work in the morning… she should really ignore the text and let him assume she was already asleep. One more day wasn't going to kill them.

Thing was, though, Amy wasn't so sure about that.

She let out a frustrated breath and typed out a response. Yes. Come over.

Jake's response was immediate. ur wish is my command.

And then there was a knock on her front door.

Amy jumped and almost dropped her phone; she fumbled to put it back on her bedside table and sprang to her feet. There was another knock as she reached her front door, but Amy took a moment to smooth down her hair and just breathe before throwing back the locks and pulling the door open.

Jake held up his hands as if in surrender the second he saw her.

"I know I know but before you say anything," he said in a hushed voice, "I still technically called ahead, so I -"

Amy fisted her hands in the front of Jake's hoodie and pulled him into her apartment, her mouth on his before he could say another word. His hands found her hips as he immediately deepened the kiss, and Amy let go of him briefly to reach blindly over his shoulder and close the door. She barely heard it slam shut over the sound of her blood pumping in her ears, but it definitely did close because a second later she was pinned back against it, and Jake's hands were sliding under her top as his tongue plundered her mouth.

Amy tugged down the zip on his hoodie and started to push it back from his shoulders, but got distracted by Jake nipping at her jaw before moving down the column of her throat. His hands were cupping her breasts by this point and Amy wondered for a moment (a very brief moment) whether she should be worried about her neighbours hearing the sounds she was making. She soon forgot her worries when Jake started to suck on her pulse point - Amy moaned and raked her nails through Jake's hair, and he groaned against her skin.

Amy renewed her attack on Jake's clothes, moving to his button-down shirt, almost growling when she saw the t-shirt he had under that as well. He really did wear too many layers; it was a problem.

Jake seemed to realise said problem because he lifted his head and took a small step back, tugging at Amy's top. She reached down to rip it up and over her head, and Jake shed his hoodie and pulled his half-undone shirt and t-shirt off over his head at once. He was kissing her again before his shirts even hit the floor.

Jake's hands slid down to her behind and lifted her clear off the floor, squeezing and making Amy squeak in surprise. She felt Jake laugh into her mouth, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, grinding down on his erection and shutting him up very effectively. Jake rocked his hips against hers and the friction of the denim through her thin cotton pyjama bottoms had Amy grinding down harder and practically panting against Jake's lips.

"Jake…" she moaned, as he slid his hands under the band of her pyjama bottoms to cup her backside again. "...The bed."

Jake nodded and stepped back from the wall with her still in his arms and started to walk down her hallway, but not fast enough for Amy. She unwound her legs from around his hips and as soon as her feet were on the ground grabbed hold of his belt buckle to drag him towards her room. Jake brought his hands back up to her breasts and his mouth back to her neck, and Amy was gasping as she fumbled with Jake's belt and zip. She was tugging down his jeans by the time they reached her bed; Jake pushed her down onto the mattress before pulling off her bottoms in one swift motion and kicked off his jeans and shoes before he was on top of her, kissing her deeply and sliding a finger into her.

Amy moaned but she was way past the mood for foreplay - she pushed against Jake's shoulders, turning him so he was flat on his back, and slid down onto him as soon as she was above him. She'd never done this with him before, never tried to take such obvious control, and dear god it was working for her. From the way Jake groaned and gripped her hips so tight she was sure his fingers would leave bruises, she had a feeling that it was working for him too.

Amy dug her nails into Jake's shoulders and started moving, and really it was amazing that she lasted as long as she did considering how many days her every interaction with and thought of Jake had been building to that moment.

Amy's orgasm hit her like a hammer and Jake followed right behind, their cries echoing around the dark room. Amy barely had the strength after to climb off of Jake and flop down next to him on the bed, and once she was there she didn't move for several minutes.

Well. That had been… intense. Amy guessed she shouldn't be surprised given how much build up had gone before, but still - it had been very different from every other time they'd been together, and she couldn't help but worry, suddenly, if the intensity was going to cause a problem. The whole point of the arrangement was to avoid that kind of intense tension.

Amy bit her lip and kept her eyes closed, concentrating on her breathing and trying to just let herself enjoy the aftershocks of quite possibly the strongest orgasm of her life. There was no point worrying if she didn't have a reason to worry.

After a while, Amy turned her head and saw that Jake was still flat on his back with his eyes closed, looking so peaceful that he could be asleep. She frowned and flopped her hand over to hit him on the shoulder. "Hey, no falling asleep," she scolded.

How Jake could give the impression of rolling his eyes at her without actually opening his eyes Amy didn't know, but he did. "Oh my god I'm not falling asleep - I'm just getting my breath back," he said.

Amy pursed her lips and laid her head back down - he was breathing pretty heavily still… so was she. She stared up at the ceiling for another few minutes, enjoying the feel of the cool air on her flushed skin and the feeling of her body sinking into the mattress.

Jake still hadn't moved, and Amy was really starting to worry that he might be asleep. She'd been joking before, but… it was one of the rules. He couldn't stay, it was against the rules, and they were already skirting close to breaking rules already tonight with Jake texting her two seconds before knocking on her door… She rolled over so she was propped up on an elbow facing him.

"Jake."

He didn't move, but Amy saw his lips twitch slightly so clearly he was awake. Her eyes narrowed, and she reached out and pinched his arm.

Jake's eyes flew open. "OW," he exclaimed, raising his head to glare at her. She just smirked, and he put his head back down. "You're the worst," he muttered.

Amy reached out to pinch him again but, moving way quicker than expected, he rolled over to face her, grabbed her hand with one of his own and then reached out and pinched her trapped arm with his other hand.

"OW!"

Amy sat up to free her other hand and managed to get a good poke in at Jake's shoulder before he grabbed that hand too - he tugged and Amy lost her balance, which made him lose his balance, and Jake ended up flat on his back again with Amy sprawled over his chest and their noses practically touching.

And suddenly, for the first time in weeks, it felt awkward again. This would have been the moment that a normal couple would have kissed and then laughed, or kissed and got started on round two - but they weren't a normal couple, and they didn't kiss unless it was leading somewhere… and they'd never had a round two. That wasn't the arrangement - this was purely a… a business transaction, a way to keep their sexual tension under control. And it was working. The last thing Amy wanted was to change it and risk what they had.

It must have only been a couple of seconds of staring at each other, but it might as well have been hours for the amount of awkwardness it seemed to create. Jake let go of Amy's hands and she quickly pushed herself up into a sitting position - she used Jake's shoulder to push away without even thinking, and practically snatched her hand back once she was sitting up. Jake sat up as well and cleared his throat, very deliberately not looking at her as he started getting dressed. Amy grabbed her robe from where it was draped over the back of her dressing chair, and tried not to think about how similar this suddenly felt to their disastrous first morning after.

"Right, well, I'm gonna go," Jake said, once he was mostly nodded and managed a weak smile. "Yeah. Okay." She followed him out into the hall, where he picked up his shirt and his hoodie from the floor. She cleared her throat. "I'll see you in the morning."

Jake flashed her a brief smile, and then he was gone without another word, and without a high five. And much as she thought the high fives were stupid, it felt wrong to not do it. Really wrong.

Things seemed okay at work the next day, no different than after any of their other evenings together. So that was okay. But Amy couldn't help but worry about how it could affect their arrangement.

Jake didn't say that he was worried too, but they did find themselves back in Amy's bed just a day later, a lot sooner than she would have expected. And they both seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as, afterwards, they did their usual high five.

XXX

They got over the Feeney Case Incident fine enough, and Amy didn't worry about the fact that there had been an incident... there were bound to be awkward moments with what they were doing. The point was that they moved past it and went back to normal (the fact that 'normal' for them now meant meeting up every few days to have sex was an irony not lost on Amy).

In a way, actually, it was almost too normal. Yes they'd had a routine before, but now it was becoming more and more... well, perfunctory was the only word Amy could find. Don't get her wrong, it was still good, but it was kind of... samey? Amy could practically predict where Jake would touch her next while they were having sex - and don't get her wrong, in a way that was kind of sexy and it's not like it didn't still totally work for her, but she felt like maybe a lot of that was coming from caution... things had gotten awkward so quickly during The Incident, and she certainly didn't want to rock the boat. What they had worked.

It was just maybe, maybe, not quite as satisfying as before.

She didn't say anything, obviously, and neither did Jake, and the three month 'anniversary' of their arrangement rolled round without any further problems. It was Amy's birthday that week, and the team made plans to go to the bar on Friday night - on the Thursday though, the night of her actual birthday, Amy was having dinner with three of her brothers.

Amy was the fifth child of eight, and it had been a strange combination of middle child and only-girl psychology that had formed her childhood and, especially, her teenage years. She loved all her brothers (now) but she was definitely closer to some over others. Chris was the closest brother to her in age, only one year older, and they were and always had been natural allies. The twins, Julio and Tomas, were four years younger than Amy, and being complete Mommy's boys from birth Amy had found it easy to use her resemblance to her Mom and her 'maternal instincts' to win them to her side in most arguments and sibling turf wars. However, just because the four of them had had each other's backs when things got rough in the boisterous Santiago household, didn't mean that they didn't make Amy want to tear her hair out sometimes.

Chris was already a director at the market research firm he worked for, and knowing how ambitious Amy was as well couldn't understand why she wasn't a sergeant yet. Julio was a personal shopper at Bloomingdales, and while that meant occasional free stuff, it also meant he was impeccably dressed like all the time, and not afraid to voice his opinion on whatever Amy chose to wear to meet him. And Tomas, the struggling actor/singer/dancer/painter/photographer/all-round-artistic-soul of the family, spent most of his time when they met up bemoaning the latest lost love of his life but still found time to repeatedly ask Amy when she was going to meet and lose the love of her life. (Teddy, apparently, had not counted.)

So, while she had fun and it was good to see them all and nice of them to take the time to take her out on her birthday and all of that, it was hardly surprising that Amy needed a fair amount of wine to get her through the evening. About four glasses, in fact.

Amy was a little blurry on the end of dinner, but she knew Chris and Julio flagged her down a cab to take her home, laughing at something she'd said. As she sat with her head against the cool, rattling glass of the window and watched the lights of the city go by, Amy decided she didn't want to go home. Home was fine, and her bed was there and she wanted her bed, but there was no one in her bed, and that was totally not okay with her. She wanted someone in her bed to... haha, you know. She wanted Jake in her bed.

Well it was allowed right? They were, you know, friends with benefits, and she wanted to benefit from his friendship - haha. And he would benefit from it too, if you know what I mean. (Because they would be having sex. And it would be good for both of them - because she was good, okay, like, really good. At sex. So, get it? Yep.)

Amy lurched forward in her seat and gave the taxi driver Jake's address instead of hers. She would surprise him, and benefit from him (haha) and then, and then... yep. Great plan. She was great at plans. People should call her Amy Plantiago.

Amy was still giggling when they pulled up outside Jake's apartment block - she paid the driver and got out, wobbling slightly in the heels she'd only worn because the last time she'd worn flats to dinner with Julio he'd spent like half an hour talking about showing off the shape of her calves to their best advantage. Pfft.

The door to the building was open - score - so Amy got to Jake's front door without a problem. It was exciting - they'd never done this anywhere but at her place before. Maybe that's why it had started to get boring. Jake was probably finding it boring always being at hers too. This was such a great plan.

She rang the doorbell and then pounded her fist on the door before realising it was late and she didn't want to wake up the neighbours. "Shhh..." she scolded herself, before giggling again because she just told herself off.

The door wasn't open yet, so Amy rang the doorbell again. Standing in the dim light of Jake's hallway was having something of a sobering effect on Amy - she started thinking about how late it was, and that she had work in the morning... She bit her lip and looked back the way she'd come - maybe she should just go.

But then she heard the sound of locks being thrown back and the door opened to reveal Jake. He was wearing an NYPD t-shirt and a pair of worn jogging bottoms, his hair looked like it did after Amy was done running her hands through it, and he was barefoot. All thoughts of leaving fled Amy's mind at the sight of him, and instead she placed her hand on her hip and cocked her head to the side with a flirty smile (she was so good at flirting. So good.).

Jake looked Amy up and down and smirked. She smirked right back.

"Santiago!" He said breezily, leaning a shoulder against the doorframe and folding his arms over his chest. "What are you doing here?"

Amy was in no mood for Jake to suddenly start playing games with her. She wanted him, she got him. That's how this worked.

So, with that in mind, she planted both her hands on his chest and pushed him back into his apartment. He went easily enough, and his smirk widened when she kicked the door shut behind her.

"What do you think?" She answered him, before sliding her hands up onto his shoulders and stretching up to kiss him.

Jake put his hands on top of hers and leant his head back so she almost ended up kissing his chin. That didn't usually happen - kisses usually happened on the lips. Amy frowned.

"Well I assume you want to discuss the Clarkson case?" Jake said, still smirking. "Couldn't that wait until morning?"

Amy's frown deepened - why the hell would she have come round to talk about the damn Clarkson case - the most open-and-shut boring case ever? Jake wasn't making any sense... and why was he even talking at all?

"What are you talking about?"

Jake shrugged. "Well you don't call, you don't text… what am I to think?"

"I…" Amy's voice trailed off as her confusion cleared and she finally realised what was going on. Jake was right- she hadn't told him she was coming over, she'd just showed up out of the blue...she was breaking Rule Two. The pleasant buzz she'd been experiencing vanished in an instant.

Jake was practically grinning now, so Amy knew he wasn't actually mad (in fact, knowing him, he was probably delighted that he'd have something new to tease her about), but Amy felt terrible. She'd been the one to come up with the rules, and so far Jake hadn't broken a single one. And yet she, Amy Santiago, to whom following rules was basically a religion, had completely thrown out one of her own rules and just showed up at his door in practically the middle of the night and expected him to... oh god this was awful.

Amy snatched her hands from Jake's shoulders and quickly stepped back. "You're right, I'm sorry, I'm breaking the rules," she stammered, barely able to meet Jake's eye. "I'll go."

She turned to leave, but Jake grabbed hold of her hand and tugged her back to him before she could take a step. She turned her head to apologise again, but Jake's other hand was suddenly cupping the back of her head and holding her in place as he kissed her deeply.

Amy's hand automatically reached up to grab hold of the back of Jake's shirt, and she couldn't help but sigh as Jake's tongue swept into her mouth. He tasted like beer - so at least she wasn't the only one who'd had a couple of drinks.

Jake pulled back after a few moments, and kissed his way across her cheek until his mouth was by her ear. "You really think I want you to leave?"

Amy's hand tightened on Jake's shirt, and her other hand came up to cradle the back of his head as he started sucking on the spot behind her ear. He started pulling the zip down at the side of her dress.

Amy swallowed. "I… we shouldn't," she managed to say, even though her hand on his head was now holding his mouth firmly against her neck. "I broke the rules."

Jake laughed against her skin, and then started to lift his head - Amy loosened her grip on his head a little reluctantly - but he didn't step away. Instead he pulled her zip down the rest of the way and slid his hand under the loose material so his arm was wrapped around her bare back; he pulled her closer so they were pressed together and then spun her round and started walking her backwards.

"You did break the rules," he said, grinning again. Amy felt the hard edge of Jake's side table at the back of her thighs, and Jake's hands were suddenly at her hips, lifting her up to sit on the table. Something fell off it with a dull thud. "And I forgive you," he said loftily. "But only because it's your birthday."

Amy nodded. "Okay."

He kissed her again, and Amy's legs fell open so Jake could step between them, his hands warm on her thighs under her dress. They came to rest on her hips and his thumbs slid very deliberately along the edges of her underwear.

Amy actually whimpered when he started kissing his way down her neck - she would have been embarrassed if she wasn't so turned on. She raked her nails over his shoulder and through his hair as he sucked on the pulsepoint on her neck, her breath hitching as he tugged on the edges of her underwear and started to pull them down.

Amy wasn't sure what Jake was doing - it wasn't like they could have sex on the table; it was too low for them to align properly, too small to lay back on (and from the way it was shaking under her there was no way it would hold both their weight anyway) - but she couldn't bring herself to care. By this point at her apartment they would already be in her bed; the fact that she couldn't predict Jake's next move sent a thrill through her, and so she lifted one hip and then the other to let Jake drag her panties off. He stepped back to pull them down her legs, and Amy actually forgot to breathe at the look he was giving her. He crouched down once the panties were over her knees, and Amy swallowed as he let them drop to the floor. Then he placed his warm hands on her knees and slid them up her thighs, under her skirt until he reached her hips, and he knelt up in front of her.

Jake grinned. "Happy birthday," he said. His hands gripped her hips, pulled her towards him to the edge of the table, and then he basically dived under her dress.

"J - ohhh." Amy groaned deep in the back of her throat at the feel of Jake's tongue on her folds, and she fell back until her shoulders hit the wall behind her, hands scrabbling for purchase and her mouth wide open as she gasped for air.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Amy wondered what Jake was thinking, why he was doing this - they didn't do this. Their arrangement was about efficiency, about taking the edge off as quickly as possible. This wasn't… efficient. This wasn't what they did.

But god, she wanted this. She hadn't realised how much, but right in that moment, with Jake putting that big mouth of his to work in a way that maybe she'd thought about way too many times, Amy couldn't even fathom the idea of getting him to stop. So, instead, she gripped the edge of the table either side of her, dug her heels into Jake's back, and just let herself feel. It was kind of embarrassing how quickly he managed to bring her to the edge with just his mouth - even more embarrassing were the noises she couldn't contain as she got closer and closer to her climax, and when it crashed over her she was pretty certain she screamed Jake's name.

Which would have been mortifying except that Jake was kissing her neck and massaging her sides as she came down and it felt wonderful, and then he was helping her off the table and tugging her further into his apartment, towards his bedroom. Dimly, Amy was aware that generally one orgasm per Jake encounter was her usual quota, but she had a feeling that wasn't going to be the case tonight.

Which was alright by her. It was her birthday after all.

XXX

Things were different, after that.

The arrangement stayed the same; there were still rules and despite Amy's little slip up, she made sure they stuck to them. No staying over. No surprise visits. No fooling around in the precinct. No telling anybody. What changed was the way they, well, fulfilled the arrangement.

For a start, Jake seemed to have developed a kind of addiction to going down on her, and she wasn't about to try and stop him since he was, like, unfairly good at it. And whenever she returned the favour he would make this noise that… well. Anyway. There was that.

After successfully navigating the potential awkwardness of Amy's birthday they had both realised that they could try new things without everything crashing down around them, and though they never, ever discussed it, the sex just became more varied and adventurous in general. It wasn't just that rush to get out of their clothes and onto Amy's bed as quickly as possible anymore - it wasn't just about satisfying a need; it became about having fun at the same time and where it had been good before, now it was… urgh, it was the best sex she'd ever had, okay? Not that she was going to tell Jake that. The smirk on his face whenever he made her come on his tongue was bad enough without throwing verbal praise into the mix.

(That said, Amy knew the smirk on her own face whenever she climbed on top of him and made him bruise her thighs with his fingers and shudder under her was pretty damn smug too. Whatever.)

It wasn't just the sex that changed, though that came first. They started using Jake's apartment as well as Amy's, and using Jake's apartment changed things simply by the way it was laid out. It sounded stupid, but at Amy's apartment, it was easy to stumble down the corridor to her bedroom while getting out of their clothes; the ridiculous stairs up to Jake's loft bedroom made that basically impossible, which meant they'd start making out downstairs and then pause to head upstairs, or just not even start until they got upstairs… either way, they spent a lot more time together before and during. There was more talking, more teasing, more laughing. One day, Amy arrived at Jake's at the same time as a delivery guy and they ended up eating Chinese takeout on his stupid massage chairs and watching Law and Order for well over an hour before spending like fifteen minutes in Jake's bed before Amy headed home.

Law and Order kind of became a thing for them - it turned out Jake liked SVU just as much as Amy did, and made fun of all the same things she did, and it was so much fun to watch it with him instead of by herself like usual (even when she was with Teddy she used to watch it alone - Teddy hadn't liked watching any cop shows). So takeout and SVU became a regular thing for them every Wednesday. Soon there was takeout on other nights too, discussing their cases and gossiping about the precinct over pizza or noodles or pierogies before moving to the bedroom, usually after a prolonged make out session on the couch.

It didn't even occur to Amy to wonder about the changes until about two months after her birthday. It was a Wednesday morning, and she and Jake were driving back to the precinct after interviewing a witness. They parked, and Jake turned to Amy before they got out of the car.

"Your place tonight?" He asked.

"Sure," said Amy. They'd been at his place the night before.

"I'll bring dinner. What do you want? Pizza?"

Amy made a face. "We had pizza last night. Chinese?"

Jake shrugged. "Cool." And they got out of the car and went back to work.

There was nothing particularly special about the conversation - it was a conversation they had at least once a week - but it got Amy thinking.

We had pizza last night.

It was true and everything, but it was so… so domestic. And the fact was that she had been at Jake's the night before. And he'd been at hers for two hours on Sunday afternoon. In fact, now that she sat and thought about it, she'd spent practically every other evening with Jake for the past three weeks. That wasn't against any rules, obviously, but it couldn't be… well, normal, for a friends with benefits arrangement, right?

Their thing was meant to be a last choice option to prevent their sexual tension from getting out of hand, but it had been weeks since their tension had even had a chance to climb to anywhere near an unmanageable level. The nature of their arrangement had changed without Amy really noticing; she'd been so caught up in enjoying the improvement in the sex that she'd not thought about how everything else had changed as well.

Her first instinct was to panic, and she left her desk to hide in the restroom and do just that, but the panic didn't last too long. So she and Jake were spending time together, so what? They were friends. It was just fulfilling the friends part of their friends with benefits arrangement, nothing more. There was no need to read more into it than that.

Besides, what was she going to do about it anyway? She could talk to Jake, but that would make it seem like it was something, when actually the whole point was that it wasn't. She could stop hanging out so much, and go back to how it was before - but she liked how things were now, and she didn't want to make things awkward.

Her other option was to end it entirely. She dismissed the idea immediately.

No, she was worrying over nothing. So they were hanging out - they were also having sex every time they met up, so clearly they still had their priorities straight (and if you'd told Amy before this whole thing started that she would ever consider sex to be a priority she would have laughed in your face). They even high fived every time still, like a couple of frat boys.

Amy went back to her desk, and that night she and Jake watched SVU while eating pizza and dim sum ("it's called a compromise, Amy, jeez"), made out during every commercial break and had sex after with not a word being said about how they'd done almost the exact same thing just the night before. They high fived at her door as Jake left, and Amy went to sleep with a smile.

Still, the thought was in her head, and it stayed there.

Then she met Leo.

XXX

Amy met Leo by the mailboxes of her building. He was getting the mail for an apartment on her floor, but Amy knew the woman who lived there and had never seen this guy before. He was using the proper key to open the mailbox so it was probably fine, but she was a detective and her curiosity was piqued.

The guy looked up and saw her watching him, so Amy gave him a small smile. "Hi," she said. "Haven't seen you before. Did you just move in?"

"Oh, no," he said airily. "My sister lives here; she didn't have time to get her mail this morning so I was sent down."

As soon as he said it, Amy noticed the resemblance between him and her neighbour, and her curiosity was satisfied. "Oh, you're Cathy's brother?"

"Yeah, I'm Leo," he said, closing the mailbox again and holding out a hand.

"Amy, I live a couple of doors down from Cathy," she said, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

They chatted as they climbed the stairs up to Amy's floor; normal small talk about jobs and stuff, and Amy was totally blindsided when he turned to her at the top of the stairs and asked her out.

"Oh, um..."

She hadn't been flirting... had she? Not intentionally anyway. Well, whatever, that wasn't really the point- the point was he'd asked her out and she had to let him down gently, which she wasn't great at.

"Sorry, you're probably seeing someone," Leo said after a couple of seconds of silence.

Amy's mind flashed to Jake immediately, to their evenings eating takeout and watching TV, and just the fact that she was thinking about him in the context of 'seeing someone' was enough to have her exclaiming "oh, no - no I'm not seeing anyone!" in a panicked tone.

She swallowed. "I just, um..." Wow, this was awkward. She'd been all prepared to say no thanks, like a normal person saying no to a date, and then she'd panicked at the thought of just thinking that there was something going on with her and Jake, and Leo had clearly taken her hurried denial of having a boyfriend as a precursor to her saying yes…

Damnit, Jake.

Maybe she should say yes. She hadn't been on a date for months, and it was literally written into the rules that she and Jake could go on dates - it had been expected. And now, almost half a year had gone by and… it wasn't right. She needed to put herself back out there. She'd become too reliant on her thing with Jake, and the mere fact that she'd immediately thought of him when Leo asked if she was seeing anyone was enough to prove that it was getting too much.

So, with that in mind, Amy smiled at Leo, swapped numbers and arranged to meet him for dinner the next night.

XXX

Amy wasn't sure whether or not to tell Jake about the date - objectively it was none of his business and she'd certainly never used to tell him about all of her upcoming dates back before they'd started up their arrangement, so surely there was no need to tell him now… but in reality it seemed kind of underhanded to keep it from him. But then what if she told him and it seemed like she was telling him because she thought he would care…? He wouldn't care. That was the point of the rules. It was literally rule number one. Or what if she didn't tell him and it had the same effect?

This argument was running around Amy's head all morning, but luckily she didn't need to decide because in the end, she had to tell him, because she'd totally forgotten that that night was a Wednesday, which meant it was a Law and Order night.

They were in the evidence lock-up re-labelling a few items for their case. It was something that Amy could easily have done by herself, but Jake had followed her in there to help, and Amy was sure it was because he was going to ask her to come round that night.

She was right.

"So, yours or mine for Law and Order tonight?" Jake said quietly as he passed her the labels. "And please can we not get Chinese again?"

It was so matter-of-fact, the way he said it… he was so clearly certain that they'd be meeting up, that Amy felt a little bad about saying no. But really, it was just further evidence that she needed to go on the date with Leo. For Jake's sake as well as hers.

"Actually… I have a date tonight," she said.

For a split second there was an odd look in Jake's face, but it was gone in the blink of an eye, replaced with a smirk.

"Oh really," he said in a teasing voice. "That ad in the phone booth finally make good?"

"Shut up," said Any automatically. She cleared her throat. "Actually, it's my neighbour's brother – he's just moved to New York and we met in the hallway the other day and got talking and he asked me out and I have no idea why I'm telling you this." Amy rolled her eyes at herself and turned back to her labelling.

"Santiago, you wound me," said Jake, clutching at his chest dramatically. "Tell me everything. I want nothing more than to hear all about the man who might be your one true love."

Amy gave him an exasperated look, and his smirk faded. They looked at each other in silence for a moment before Jake cleared his throat and looked away.

"Where are you going?"

"I am not telling you that," said Amy firmly.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I'm not gonna do anything," he said. "I'm just curious."

"Why?"

"I'm a detective."

Any didn't buy his 'I'm a detective' excuse for a second, but implying he'd do something to interrupt her date if she told him where they were going also meant implying that he cared she had a date... which of course he didn't, because that was rule one.

"Fine," she said. "We're going to La Lanterna."

There was an odd look on Jake's face again, though Amy couldn't imagine why - it was just a tiny little Italian in Brooklyn, nothing particularly special. And anyway why would he care if it was something special?

Once again the look was gone so quickly that Amy was left wondering if she'd imagined it, and Jake nodded with a smile.

"Nice," he said. "They do an amazing pancetta and spinach ravioli with a cheesy pesto sauce that I could dive into a vat of and die happy."

Ah, that's probably what the face was about - he was jealous of the food. "I hate spinach," she told him.

Amy shrugged and went back to her labeling, and just caught the sight of Jake rolling his eyes at her answer.

"Your loss," he said.

"I'm sure I'll find something else on the menu," said Amy.

Then suddenly Jake was right next to her, his entire body pressing against her side. Amy froze, first from surprise and then to stop herself leaning against him.

"Oh I wasn't talking about the ravioli," he whispered, so close his lips brushed against her ear. Against her explicit orders, her body shuddered, and Jake must have felt it, but he didn't say anything - he just turned and walked away.

XXX

God, Jake was annoying. Seriously, all he'd done was whisper an innuendo to her and she hadn't been able to stop thinking about him since. She'd already been approaching her date with Leo with… well, not dread or anything that dramatic, but definitely… resignation? She didn't really want to go, was what she was getting at, and had only agreed because she'd been worried about her relationship with Jake getting too out of hand and wanted to prove to herself that she could date without their thing getting in the way of it. And now, instead, she was going to spend the entire evening remembering the feel of his lips on her ear and wishing she was with him instead.

He'd definitely done it on purpose. Asshole.

In the end, though, it didn't really matter, because it was Leo that turned out to be the biggest asshole of the evening.

She met him at the restaurant; he told her she looked beautiful and then went in for a kiss right away. Amy thought he was leaning in to kiss her cheek and by the time she realised that he going for her lips she only had time to turn her head enough for him to get the corner of her mouth instead. He looked a bit disappointed for a split second before smiling, complimenting her dress, and putting a hand on the small of her back to steer her into the restaurant.

Once they were seated he immediately launched into a story about Chip from work, which Amy struggled to follow at all because she had no idea who any of the people in the story were or what they did and therefore why the story was funny or even interesting.

The waiter came over to take their drink order as soon as Leo stopped speaking, which Amy thought was pretty good timing because she damn well needed a drink, but Leo looked at the poor man like he was a bug.

"We have no idea what we want to drink because we haven't been given a drinks menu," he said condescendingly.

The wine list was on the table and had been from the beginning. When the waiter pointed it out to him, Leo went red and snapped at him to go away so they could have a look.

Amy hated people who were rude to service staff. Things were not going well.

Leo then tried to order Amy's drink for her without asking her what she wanted - Amy declined the glass of merlot as politely as she could and asked for a malbec instead. This led into a long explanation about why malbec was inferior to merlot, and how Leo would be happy to help her learn more about wines before the next time they went for dinner.

The waiter brought their drinks and asked if they were ready to order - since Leo hadn't shut up for one second since sitting down neither of them had looked at the menu. Leo snapped at the waiter again and it was all Amy could do not to throw her drink in his face and storm out of the restaurant. Only the thought of his sister, whom Amy actually liked best out of all her neighbours, stopped her.

She was either going to have to see the date through or find another way out. Leo made a quip about how much he hated when Italian places used Italian in their menus, and Amy reached for her cellphone.

Leo was still engrossed in the menu, but Amy kept her phone in her lap under the table like she was a high schooler in class as she tapped out a quick text message and sent it to Jake.

OK this is dentist level bad. Get me out of this.

God, she could only imagine the smug look on Jake's face when he received her message - which did beg the question… why hadn't she texted someone else? Rosa also knew she had a date tonight, she would have helped her out. It hadn't even occurred to her to text anyone but Jake…

Well, he would be sure to call quickly, if only to mock her over the phone. So it was fine. Amy made sure her phone was off silent and the ringer was right up before dropping it back in her bag just as Leo looked up from his menu.

"Well I know what I'm having. Have you decided?"

Since she wasn't planning on staying long, Amy hadn't really looked at the menu. She nodded anyway.

Leo snapped his menu shut and put it down in front of him. "Maybe if our menus are closed we might finally get some service."

Amy gave him a tight smile and hoped that Jake got a move on with his phone call.

Unfortunately their waiter came back before her phone could ring. Leo barely looked at him as he gave his order.

"I'll have the spaghetti marinara."

Amy gave the waiter an apologetic smile. "I'll take the pancetta ravioli please – and could I get extra sauce?" She said, handing over her menu to the nodding waiter. "Thanks."

Okay, so she'd ordered the ravioli that Jake had talked about - don't read too much into it. She'd been too distracted to read the menu, and anyway they did takeout, so she would take it with her and give it to him as a thank you for getting her out of this joke of a date. And maybe use it as leverage to reduce his mockery of her.

If he ever actually got round to calling her. What was taking him so long? Maybe he hadn't seen the message yet. Maybe he was out somewhere... Maybe he'd gone on a date himself.

The thought of Jake out on a date with some random girl gave Amy a swooping sensation in her stomach that she found difficult to name. It wasn't jealousy, obviously- that would be ridiculous. Worry, maybe? He hadn't had plans when they'd spoken earlier, so it would be a very last minute thing... he should be careful.

Luckily, Leo didn't really need any input from Amy to hold up the conversation, so she was able to sit there and worry about Jake's potential date in silence. Amy was considering faking a call or something after fifteen minutes had gone by with still no word, when the door to the restaurant opened and Jake walked in.

Disgustingly, Amy's first reaction to the sight of him was actually relief, which was pathetic. Her second reaction, which was definitely the more sane one to have to the sight of Jake Peralta arriving in person to get her out of a bad date, was deep foreboding.

Amy stared at him as he looked around the restaurant, silently hoping his plan involved talking to a waiter or something, but no - he spotted her, and grinned, and started making his way over.

Amy looked back at Leo, who clearly hadn't noticed anything, and had to resist the urge to pre-emptively bury her face in her hands as she heard Jake getting closer. Oh god, what had she done?

Jake stopped next to their table, and Leo finally stopped talking long enough to look up at him in confusion. Amy steeled herself and looked up too.

He was frowning down at her. "So here you are."

"Jake," Amy said, struggling to keep her voice even. "What are you doing here?" She tried to convey with just her eyes that he was going to pay for whatever it was he had planned, but his only reaction was to fold his arms and glare at her.

"You've been avoiding me Amy, and it's gone on long enough," he said. Then he sighed dramatically. "I should have known I'd find you here - in our special place."

Amy closed her eyes and fought the urge to groan.

"Er, Amy, who is this man?"

Amy opened her eyes to find Leo giving her a puzzled look, but Jake answered him before she could think of anything to say.

"I'm Jake, Amy's ex-boyfriend," he said curtly. Then he put both hands on the edge of the table and leant down towards Leo. "Listen man, this is really important - you haven't slept with her, have you?"

"Jake!" Amy exclaimed, her cheeks flaming red.

Leo swallowed. "No - this is our first - what are you -"

Jake nodded and stood up straight again. "Good, that's great news, because you do not want to go there," he said. Amy had a horrible idea she'd figured out Jake's plan, but she wouldn't let herself believe it until it happened. She shook her head at him, but he just sighed again.

"I heard back from the doctor, Amy," he said. "That's what I've been trying to tell you for three days. It's what I thought it was, and since we both know that it wasn't me who was sleeping around, I thought I'd better let you know."

Amy was fairly certain that the glare she was giving Jake should have melted him through the floor, but instead she could see that he was trying not to smile.

"Oh my god," she heard Leo say.

Jake gave her the smallest of winks and then turned back to him. "I'm sorry to ruin your date, man."

"No that's - it's, er, fine," Leo said, starting to stand up. "I, um, I think I'll just go."

Amy dragged her glare away from Jake. "Leo -"

"Bye," he mumbled, not even looking at her in his haste to leave.

Jake sat down in Leo's vacated chair and the two of them watched as he fled the restaurant. The moment the door closed behind him, Amy snapped her head back to Jake. "I am going to kill you," she growled through gritted teeth.

Jake grinned at her. "You're welcome."

Amy had to fight down what would have been an actual snarl as she leant forward. "When I said 'get me out of this' I thought you'd fake a work emergency or something," she hissed angrily.

Jake shrugged, completely unapologetic, and reached for a breadstick. "You should have been more specific," he said, still grinning. "Anyway, it worked didn't it?"

"Yes, but now he thinks that I've got, that I'm… oh my god," Amy groaned, dropping her head into her hands. "His sister's going to hate me!"

"It's New York," said Jake through a mouthful of breadstick. "Your neighbours are meant to hate you."

Amy folded her arms and fixed Jake with a glare that clearly did nothing but amuse him. She rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said. "But you're going to have to water my plants when I go out of town from now on."

Jake snorted. "You don't want me looking after your plants," he said. "I've killed at least seven cactuses."

"Cacti," Amy said automatically.

"Either is correct," Jake argued.

Amy opened her mouth to argue back, but the waiter arrived at that moment.

"Hi," he said with a smile. "I have a spaghetti marinara -" He looked at Jake properly for the first time and blinked, clearly confused. "Er…"

Jake grinned up at him. "Why, thank you."

The waiter shot a questioning look at Amy, who just shrugged at him. Obviously deciding not to question it, he put the bowl of spaghetti down in front of Jake and then turned to her.

"And the pancetta ravioli with extra sauce."

"Thanks."

"Just let me know if you need anything else," the waiter said, before beating a hasty retreat.

Jake was eyeing her ravioli. "I thought you hated spinach?"

"I do," Amy said. She picked up the warm bowl and held it up. "Here, let's swap."

Jake didn't move. "You ordered for me?" When Amy didn't say anything he started to smirk. "That is adorable."

Amy rolled her eyes, furious at herself for blushing. "Just shut up and take it, Peralta," she said.

He did, grinning like a maniac, and handed the marinara across to her. Amy took the bowl and started eating right away, refusing to look up at Jake and his stupid smug face. She could feel her cheeks were just about returning to a normal temperature but oh god… she was never going to live this down.

At least the marinara was good. Whatever his other faults, Leo was a decent orderer.

They ate in silence for a few minutes (which was evidence enough that Jake really loved that ravioli), and then Amy felt Jake nudge her calf with his foot. She lifted her eyes to meet his, a glare already in place, and once again he just looked amused at the sight of her anger.

"Not bad for our second date," he said cheerfully.

"This isn't a date," Amy snapped.

"No?" Jake said with a smirk. "And I guess we're not going back to yours for dessert?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Amy dropped the glare and leant forward, and Jake's smirk grew as she got closer, and he leant forward too.

"Not a chance," Amy said flatly, before sitting back and returning to her food. Jake just grinned and tucked back into the ravioli.

XXX

Of course they did end up back at her place. Amy was still angry with Jake, and she did think about cutting him off for a few days to teach him a lesson about boundaries, but the sad truth was that that would be as much of a punishment for her as for him. So, the way she saw it, she could either keep glaring at him and see him grin that smug, amused grin he had whenever she did, or she could take him back to her place and put him to work on making it up to her.

She chose the latter.

"You're going to need to put in the work tonight, Peralta," she said to him as she let them into her apartment.

"Title of our sex tape," Jake said immediately.

"Damn straight," said Amy. "I mean it, Jake. You owe me one. Actually, you owe me two. Maybe three."

Jake smirked and pulled her against him with his hands on her hips. "I don't know, I've eaten a lot of pasta tonight… I'm not sure I can go to three."

"You can do my filing for a week instead if you want."

"Three it is."

He bent his head and kissed her but it was playful more than passionate, and Amy could feel him smiling against her lips. He pinched her backside and Amy pushed away from him, rolling her eyes and trying to hide her chuckle.

"Hey, did you TiVo Law and Order?" Jake asked.

Amy sighed. "Yes…"

Jake immediately turned his puppy dog eyes on. "Can we watch it first? Can we?" He begged.

"It's already gone ten."

"I bet I can get one and two out of the way during the commercials."

Amy threw up her hands. "Okay, fine - I'm gonna get changed, get it set up."

When she came back in a few minutes later wearing joggers, and tank top, and her glasses, Amy found Jake stretched out on her couch with Law and Order paused on the TV. He didn't sit up when she came over, just moved over so he was on the edge of the cushions, giving her just enough room to lie down next to him against the back of the couch. She did, her head propped up on a cushion next to Jake's head.

It was comfortable, and warm, and she and Jake were soon far too busy arguing over the case to even think about doing anything but bicker during the commercials,and by the last quarter of the episode Amy's eyes were heavy.

She didn't see the very end.

When she opened her eyes again the room was quiet, and darker, the TV had gone on standby and there was no noise from any of the other apartments. Amy was still warm, and even more comfortable than before - her head had shifted from the cushion to Jake's shoulder, her arm was lying across his stomach and her calf was hooked around his thigh. His arm left arm was draped around her shoulders, and his right hand was resting on the elbow of her arm across his body. He was asleep.

Amy started, and sat up abruptly, and Jake's eyes flew open.

"Wha-"

Amy scrambled to sit upright, shoving at Jake's legs until he got the gist and moved to sit up as well. He rubbed a hand over his face and took his phone out of his pocket to look at the time - it was 02:05.

"Huh," Jake said. "That episode was longer than usual."

Amy huffed a laugh, and Jake grinned. "I'd better get going," he said. She nodded, and he grabbed his shoes from under the coffee table and started shoving them on.

"I guess I'll have to owe you one," he said with a smirk.

"Three," Amy corrected him, though her yawn ruined the sassy tone she was going for. Jake grinned anyway.

"Sure thing," he said. He leant forward and kissed her, light and sweet, with a hand cupping the back of her head. Her hand curled on his shoulder and she sighed against his lips as he pulled away.

"Good night Amy," he said.

"Good night."

They smiled at each other, and Jake left her stretching on the couch and headed out of the door.

Amy licked her tingling lips and stood up, only to sit back down with a thump, her smile disappearing from her face. Jake had just kissed her goodnight.

Even on the nights they had sex he didn't kiss her goodnight.

They didn't have sex and he'd kissed her anyway. She'd kissed him back. There'd been no high fiving. They'd gone out for dinner and come back to hers and fallen asleep watching TV and not had sex or even a makeout session and they'd kissed each other goodnight.

Okay. Time to panic.