AN: HI! Thank you for your reviews - they came so quickly that I was just like - did you even read the chapter?

SPEAKING OF CHAPTERS, this IS the last one. I promise. Congratulations. You've made it. Four long months later, WE ARE ONLY ON CHAPTER EIGHT, but it is the end, and you've made it. Sorry, excuse me, there are emotions leaking out of me. They are called tears and I need a tissue. Okay. Thanks.

Enjoy!

26 December, 12:40PM

"Was it something that I said at the table? Are you mad at me? Because if you are, you can just tell me, and I'd totally understand, and I know I'm a buzzkill, and I'm sorry, but it's not my fault," Amy worried out loud, badgering Jake, who was throwing things into his suitcase. They just had lunch - brunch for him - and they were heading to the airport in an hour and twenty minutes. Being Amy, she had packed and zipped and locked her suitcase two hours ago; it was standing beside the front door, ready to go. She loitered in the room, following him around as he picked up his clothes, all the while mumbling.

"You know, it's working, this whole 'ignore Amy until she goes crazy' thing," Amy went on, frustrated that Jake had decided to go down this route of the silent treatment for seemingly no reason. It was like he had just decided to shut her out for fun. "Because I can feel myself going crazy. You can't just kiss me and then ignore me like that," she said. "Even if we never kissed, we work together. Bet you didn't think of that, did you? We sit across each other, so good luck with spending the rest of your life ignoring me."

Jake kept quiet, and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

So he did kiss her out of the blue, at the lunch table. It wasn't planned, but it wasn't like he was doing it on purpose. Julie still didn't know that they weren't really dating, and when he went downstairs and Amy leaned in for a hug, he had misunderstood and thought she was going for a kiss instead, as a part of the act. And it was only when she had pinched him in the rib that he realised he had seriously misread her signs. He pulled away quickly, but he couldn't say he didn't enjoy it.

Amy bounced back quickly, and the meal went as per normal. Julie then brought up the fact that she knew the truth about Amy's so-called pregnancy. She revealed their conversation in the kitchen that had taken place in the morning, and weirdly, that seemed to shut Jake up. He kept quiet from that moment on, never saying anything to Amy other than the occasional one-worded replies when she prompted him. "Would you like pepper on that?" Amy would ask, and Jake would nod. She'd ask him if he wanted more coffee, and he'd shake his head, like he was mute. She didn't understand. Was he mad at her for coming clean?

Amy sat on the edge of his bed, frowning.

So the truth is out. What's the big deal? she thought. I'm not angry. Julie isn't angry. Nobody's angry. So Jake doesn't have the right to be angry. He was the one who lied in the first place. He should be grateful I got him out of this heated mess.

She was fidgeting, bringing her fingers up to her mouth while she subconsciously bit her nails, an old habit that took her forever to put an end to.

Inside, Jake leaned on the edge of the sink. He didn't really need to go to the bathroom. He just wanted to get Amy out of his hearing range for a moment. He was not mad that the secret was out; he was frustrated hearing his mother talk about how she had always thought she was never good enough. His mother had spent all her time and resources raising himself and Allie on her own, and here she was, three decades later, feeling like she hadn't been the best mother. Except that she was. To him, she was the best mother anybody could ever ask for. It pained him to know that that was how Julie felt, from the bottom of her heart.

He should tell Amy that he wasn't mad at her, just at himself. For letting his mother think that she was anything but great.

Jake got out of the bathroom, and Amy stood up, watching him, her arms crossed.

"Jake, I'm going to reason with you, okay? I'm sorry I told your mum. But she wasn't mad. Let me explain to you how this works, okay? I-"

"Don't cross your arms at me and try to explain," Jake finally said. "You're always infantilising me like I'm some third-grader you've been appointed to deal with." He paused, and swallowed when he saw a wounded look on her face. Did he really just say that out loud? To her? In that tone? He was so caught up in his own ball of frustration that he had ended up misdirecting part of the anger at her. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you. I just... I'm mad at myself, for some other reason, and-"

"You think I'm infantilising you? Jake, are you hearing yourself?" Amy asked, rolling her eyes.

"I'm sorry. This is a misunderstanding. I'm not mad at you, and I'm sorry that you felt that I was, but-" Jake tried again, and Amy cut her off. She walked up to him and looked at him square in the eye, which made him flinch.

"Fine," she said, and his eyes widened.

Fine what? he wondered, but didn't dare ask.

"Fine," she repeated. "You want to be treated like an adult? I will treat you like an adult." She hesitated. She gulped, and he could tell she was trying her best to come off as intimidating. It worked. Well, kind of. It was hard to be intimidating when you had big eyes.

"I've been trying my hardest to be your fake girlfriend, and it's difficult, because - guess what? You're not the ideal boyfriend I'd have in the first place. You're stubborn and hot-blooded and you think you're so badass. Well, I like to follow rules and tell the truth and I'm not okay with you acting like everything's always my fault. Like I'm always holding you back and making everything less fun. Everything's always rosy and spontaneous for you, but I actually like to plan and think and strategise. Maybe it makes me lame, but it makes me who I am, and I regret ever apologising for being myself."

Amy finished and took a deep breath, though her lips remained tightened. Jake opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him.

"You asked to be talked to like an adult, and that's what you're getting," she said. "I'm not going to coo you and calm you down and let you walk all over me like I'm some sort of soiled doormat."

She backed off and sat on the bed again, looking up at him with a frown.

He waited, and when she didn't seem to have anything to say to him anymore, started to speak.

"I'm not mad at you. I was never mad at you. I don't think you're a buzzkill or a lame nerd," he said, and she rolled her eyes. "Okay, you're right; don't roll your eyes. Maybe I do, a little bit. But I like you because of that, okay? And I'm sorry."

Amy's frown went away, and she looked at him.

"What is it, then?" she muttered, still not convinced.

"It's... my mum. She was talking about how she didn't think she was good enough to be a grandmother," he explained. "And that she didn't think she did the best job raising Allie and I, and it made me so..." he searched for a word.

"Pained," Amy filled in for him.

"Pained," he echoed, nodding. "I'm mad at myself because I never knew she thought about it like that. She's a great mum and she doesn't know it, which sucks. Allie and I never bothered to tell her that she's a great mum either. I think... I- if I had told her that, she'd have recognised it in her. And it makes me angry - at myself - that I never knew that was how she felt."

She looked at him, and for a moment, she didn't know what to do. She wasn't great at giving advice and comfort like Rosa was, but she wasn't good at telling Jake to 'get over it' the way Gina was, either. She wasn't even like Charles, who was good at taking the blame whenever Jake needed a scapegoat.

"Jake," she said, and she paused. "I... it's... look. This isn't your fault," she said quickly, and he looked at her. "She knows you think the world of her, and she loves you. She's just hard on herself. You know that."

"Yeah, but if I talked to her-"

"If you talked to her, she still would've thought the same," she finished his sentence for him. "No one ever thinks they're good enough. It's just this whole weird thing that comes with being a human being that you have to accept. I mean, I try hard every day, and I'm not perfect-"

"I am," he interrupted.

"What?"

"You're not perfect, but I am. I could show you how, but I worry you won't be able to get on that level," he said, and smirked. Then dropped the smirk. "Anyway, I'm sorry. It just... I don't like thinking about that stuff."

"Me neither," she agreed. "So... can we just let it go? It's not that I don't care, but I feel like you'd be able to feel better if you'd just let it go and not dwell on it and mope around. The thing is, Julie's proud of you. She has raised one amazing daughter, and I hate to admit this, but also one-"

"-one even cooler than the first one," he said, smiling. "Me. I get it."

Amy was about to argue, but instead, she smiled.

"I'm glad you're okay."

"I am okay. I've always been okay."

"Well, you didn't seem very okay," she retorted, and then looked at him. "Seriously, though. You sure you're okay?"

"Sheesh." Jake rolled his eyes. "Yes."

"I just wanted to make sure," she said, and she smiled at him again, before opening the door. "I'll stop pestering you now. I'm glad you're fine... and now you need to get packing. We can't miss the flight. Holt will murder me. And it'll be an honour for me to get murdered by him, but then when I'm dead, someone's going to get my apartment. And I don't want them to tear the wallpaper."

"Yeah, wallpaper from the 1940s," he said, and she looked at him with a straight face.

"Duh, Jake. It's vintage," she said, and then shrugged. "Okay, well, I have something to finish up, so I'm just going to leave you alone now. I'll see you in an hour." She slipped out with a smile and a thumbs-up, leaving him standing by the edge of his bed, confused.

Something to finish up? See you in an hour? he wondered. What the hell is Amy Santiago up to?

1:45PM

"I hope you're ready to go, because-" Amy poked her head through the doorway, and paused when she saw him staring at her. "What?"

"You're five minutes late."

She looked confused. "I-"

"An hour and five minutes ago you told me you'd see me in an hour. You are five minutes late," he explained. "So what are we going to do about that?"

She walked into his room with her hands behind her back, and he raised an eyebrow. She was hiding something.

"I thought there were no rules in this house."

"Now there are."

"Says who?" she asked, looking at him like he had just grown an extra head.

"Says me," he said, and he changed the topic. "What do you have hidden behind you?"

"Nothing," she said, looking away. "Nothing. Just... nothing at all."

"It's something," he said. "Something. Something for me?"

Amy looked at him and groaned inwardly. Why did he always know?

"Fine," she said. "It's your Christmas present. I realised I didn't get you anything, so I got you this. I made you this. Well, kind of. If you call that making. And you'd better not say no to it, because I spent a long time glue-" she said, and stopped herself abruptly. She gulped and brought her arms forward, revealing an alarm clock in her hands. More specifically, her very own.

"That's your alarm clock," Jake said dumbly.

"And it is now yours," she responded, walking towards him to present him with his gift. She stuffed it into the palm of his hand and looked at him. "Congratulations."

"Well, I did need an alarm clock," he said, "so thank you. That's very... helpful."

"I know," she said, and grinned. He eyed her suspiciously.

"You're... smiling."

"Yeah, I am," she said.

"But why?"

"Do I need a reason to smile?"

"You always do."

"No, you don't. But I'm smiling because you are screwed, Jake."

He stared at her blankly, and she went on.

"I set the alarm to go off at 8AM every day. It's stuck," she said, and he jumped, spinning the digital clock around to check for a knob of some sort. "Don't bother toggling with the settings. See that big blob there? Plastic. Meaning they're fixed forever, 'cause I glued them in place. And it doesn't have a weekend setting. So you'll be hearing it ring every day at 8AM, even on Saturdays. No exceptions."

Jake gasped. "You know, I was touched moments ago, but now I just want this thing out of my life forever," Jake commented, pretending to be appalled, but she could tell that he was genuinely happy that she cared enough to go the distance. "Why do you have to be so evil?"

"I'm just trying to look out for you," she said. "Now you won't ever be late for work again."

2:00PM

"Mum, we have to go," Jake said impatiently as the cab waits outside the front door. His mum had finally stopped hugging him, but had now turned to Amy instead, showering her with attention, her hand on Amy's arm as she talked her through the economics of recycling.

"Oh, Amy, I'm going to miss you so much," Julie finalised, looking at her. "I have to say, all of Jake's girlfriends are such disappointments, but not you."

Amy raised an eyebrow, subtly shifting her gaze at Jake. She was met with his, and he shook his head, as if to say, well, that's just untrue and ridiculous. She had to turn away to stifle a smirk.

"You should come back and visit anytime," Julie continued. "I'd hate that I'll only get to see you once a year." She gave her a hug, and squeezed her tight. Amy nearly toppled over, and had to put a hand on the doorframe to stay upright on her feet. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," Amy said. "I've had a wonderful weekend and a wonderful holiday."

Jake nearly had to peel Julie off Amy, and soon, they were loading their suitcases into the back of the cab.

"Call me when you're about to fly, okay, Jake?" Julie called out, stood outside the front door.

"I will," Jake said, as he opened the door for Amy. She slid inside and he followed, closing the door in one loud bang. "Wait - mum?"

She walked over to the open window of the vehicle and stood by as Jake stuck his head out.

"Yes?"

"You may not agree with me, but you're a great mother. Just... don't ever forget that."

Julie didn't say anything; just nodded and waved as they drove off. When they had gone off in the distance, she sat on the stoop outside the house and looked down at her hands. She could see her veins wandering beneath the surface of her skin, like roads on a map. And for the first time, instead of hating them, she learned to love them; the very hands of the strong woman who had raised two beautiful children all on her own.

7:20PM

Welcome to New York City - we hope you've had a pleasant flight with us, and we can't wait to see you again on board.

Jake stretched his legs out to the voice of the Captain speaking through the PA system, and unbuckled his seat belt as the sign went off. He turned to Amy and shook her gently to wake her up. She did with a startled purr and opened her eyes, lifting a hand to brush her hair aside. They stayed put in their seats, waiting for the other passengers to retrieve their bags from the overhead compartment as they had none.

"We've landed," he announced. She had been asleep the entire time they had been in the air, and now that she had finally woken up, she was slightly disoriented by the darkness outside the window. Her hair was tousled, and he wondered if he should reach over to help tuck the misbehaving strand behind her ear like she always did. "So."

"So," she echoed, her voice drowsy. She turned around to take a better look at the view outside the window. She could see the control tower from afar, and the runway that was littered with sparkling lights for guidance. "I can't believe it's dark already."

"Well, I can. You've been out ever since we took off."

She stared at him with the same expression she had always used with him - the half irritated, half amused look.

"Thanks for your input," she said sarcastically, and added solemnly - "and for the weekend. I loved it. I mean, it was really nice."

"'It was really nice'," Jake mimicked her in a high-pitched voice, and she rolled her eyes. "Because you got to kiss me."

"Seriously."

Amy turned around and whipped her phone out to take a photo of the view outside the window, and he looked at her as she did so, studying the back of her head, and the colour of her hair, and the... okay, speaking of hair - hers was bothering him. He tried not to stare, but one strand was tucked in the wrong direction, and for some reason, it just made him extremely antsy. His fingers twitched, and when she turned around, he edged over into her cautiously, raising a hand, prepared to tuck the strand of hair aside.

Being oversensitive, she edged away immediately, bumping her head against the interior of the plane. He retracted his arm quickly, out of embarrassment. She seemed to have taken it the wrong way.

"Wha-ow," she said, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. "What was- what are you doing?"

"It's just there was- you had a strand of hair out of place and I was going to tuck it..." he tried to explain, and trailed off. He cleared his throat when he couldn't find the words and didn't know how to continue.

"Oh. Um. It's weird," she said, looking at him with an expression he couldn't quite read. It seemed like a cross between vulnerability and... was that fear? He didn't know.

He looked at her. "Amy, it's not weird."

"Yes, it is. It's very weird," she corrected him, but she wasn't mad. "You need to stop doing stuff like that."

"Are you still thinking about the whole... thing I said?" he studied her face. "Oh, it was the kiss. About that... please don't take it seriously. I was... I don't know what I was thinking. I misunderstood you."

"Can we just pretend it never happened?" Amy asked - in an almost pleading tone. "Not that it was wrong," she added quickly. "But I just feel like- I feel like maybe we shouldn't be doing this at all."

"Yet?" he asked. He wanted to figure out what she was thinking. If only he could read her mind. Were they lovers? Definitely not. Were they colleagues? They were more than that. Maybe they're friends. No, friends didn't kiss friends and realised they enjoyed it.

"Maybe."

The other passengers were leaving the aircraft, and Jake tucked his other arm into his lap to avoid being knocked into, which he was sure would eventually happen should we keep letting his elbow lie on the armrest.

"If that's what you want," he said, disappointed, but determined not to let it show.

"That is what I want," she said.

"So we step off the plane and we're Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago - friends who totally didn't do anything weird?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "That's what we'll be once we step off this plane."

He looked away, at the long line of people shuffling along the aisle. Nobody seemed to pay any attention to them at all; everyone seemed too busy and caught up in their own business to care. Classic New Yorkers, he thought. It's every man for himself in this city.

"Well, we're still on the plane," he heard Amy say shyly.

He turned around, and suddenly, he found her lips pressed against his - hard. He did a double take; he would've staggered backwards and crashed into a couple of things had they been standing, and he kissed her back, his hands not knowing where to go. He found the armrest and leaned against it, before feeling a blow on his forearm. He heard somebody yell 'hey - watch it! This is an eight hundred dollar suitcase!' but he didn't bother to turn around to argue. He raised his arm and gave them the finger, sticking his hand in the air proudly as he kissed her back harder. The man muttered something angrily and shuffled along, and he put his arm down.

When they finally broke off, there was a grin on her face.

"Amy Santiago," he said, trying to catch his breath, barely reeling in from the kiss. "I did not know you had this in you." He felt all kinds of wonderful.

"I know, I know..." she mumbled, embarrassed. "But once we get off this plane, it's Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago - friends who totally didn't do anything weird," she said through gritted teeth.

"Totally," he responded, breaking into a grin himself, hardly able to contain the joy inside of him. He could feel his heart swell as he looked into her bright eyes. He thought he could see his own reflection in the back of her eye, and for the first time in a long time, he classed this feeling as pure and unadulterated happiness. He didn't know when he was going to feel like that again. But then again...

"We're still on the plane," he noted.

"Yes," she replied. "Yes, we are."

They closed their eyes and leaned in.

AN: I LOVE SATISFYING ENDINGS. I'm sorry I've been horrible at writing and even worse at updating. It's been a busy semester (hence the fragmented uploads) but I'll be super happy to write again in early June when I'm done with all my exams. :)

Thanks for sticking around. I love you. SEE YOU IN A MONTH. (Maybe?) (I don't know.) (Do people even read these?)