in which jake needs help going full boyle.
Jake wasn't great at romance. OK, he did stuff like buy Amy flowers, and bring her coffee, and she definitely appreciated Jake's habit of bringing her home chocolate covered peanuts when she'd had a crappy day. He was good at the little things, the everyday things, but this was not an everyday, little thing. This was up there was one of the biggest things he'd ever done in his entire life.
Nervously, Jake brushed his fingers against the ring box in his pocket as Amy approached, giving him a soft smile. "You finished?" Jake inquired, intertwining his fingers in hers.
"Mm, thankfully." Amy said. "My feet are killing me."
"Rest up." Jake said. "You want me to bring home take out, or are you going to eat straight away?"
"How long do you think you'll be?"
"An hour or so maybe?"
"I might go home and have a bath then." Amy said. "Chinese?"
"The usual?"
"Of course." Amy said, kissing him lightly. "See you at home. Love you."
"Love you too." Jake watched as she left for the elevator, his hand going back to his pocket without thinking. He really loved that girl, and Amy deserved the big, romantic kind of proposal you see in films. She definitely deserved more romance than a bag of chocolate peanuts, and if there was anyone in the world who could help him with that, it was Charles Boyle.
"Boyle?"
Charles looked up at him. "Yeah?"
"Can I talk to you for a second? In the break room?"
Charles raised an eyebrow, but nodded, pushing his chair back with a ear splitting screech. "Whats up Jake?"
Jake closed the door of the break room, turning to face Boyle slowly. He reached into his pocket, holding out the small, distinctively blue box silently.
Charles gave him a shocked look as he opened the box. "Tiffanys? Jake, theres no way in hell you can afford to buy something from Tiffanys, are you trying to ruin your credit score completely, or-"
"Amy's been helping me sort out my money for years." Jake said. "I've officially been out of debt for a few months now. I've been saving. I don't care about the price, she deserves a ring like this."
Charles opened the box, his jaw dropping as he looked at the simple, but stunning ring. "You're going to propose?"
Jake nodded. "Thats where you come in."
"What?"
"I need help going full Boyle." Jake said.
"Do you think Amy really wants full Boyle?"
"I want to give her the proposal of a lifetime. I need your help to do that."
"Wouldn't she want a more you proposal, though?"
"Charles, are you going to help me or not?"
Charles took another look at the ring, and another look at Jake. "OK. I'll help you. But its going to be full Boyle with a Peralta edge, okay?"
"If I had any idea what that meant, totally."
Jake still wasn't sure what 'full Boyle with a Peralta edge' meant, but he couldn't help but be ridiculously excited about how his, and Charles' plans had turned out. So, it wasn't full Boyle. Rosa had firmly put her foot down on that one when she had walked in on Charles pricing a tiger rental and Jake drawing up a full battle plan for the The Proposal, as it had become known between the three of them.
It was still a little bit over the top, but in a good way.
He hoped.
They couldn't get the roof Jake and Amy had originally staked out on all those years ago, but he was still on a roof and he figured the thought counted. The cliche rose petals had been scattered by an over zealous Boyle (Jake didn't have the heart to point out they were on a roof, and there was a good chance they'd get blown away...) The dove release had been overruled by Rosa (again) but Jake's phone was hooked up to a stereo, a playlist of all Amy's favourite's songs, and their songs playing in the background. He had nearly set his jacket on fire in the process, but there was candles scattered around the roof, and Jake was nervously eyeing the bunch of flowers Boyle had produced last minute.
It was all in place.
The romance, the setting, the ring was in his pocket, he was wearing the shirt and blazer combo Amy had bought him for Christmas a few months back, and Amy herself was on her way, convinced she was going on a stakeout with Rosa.
Trying to calm himself down, Jake twisted the ring box around his fingers, breathing heavily.
"Try not to give yourself a heart attack."
"I can't help that I'm freaking out!"
"Don't." Boyle said, giving him a soft smile. "She's going to say yes."
"What if she doesn't? What if I've got the wrong end of it all? What if its too soon?"
"Jake, you two were dating for four months before you moved in together-"
"It made sense-"
Boyle gave him a look that stopped him mid sentence. "You guys are perfect for each other. She loves you so much, and you love her more than anything in this world. Nothing else matters. She's going to say yes."
"Thanks Boyle. I couldn't have pulled this off without you."
"You could have." Boyle said, checking his phone. "They're on their way. I'm going to go - you're going to be fine Jake. Next time I see you, you'll be an engaged man."
"Yeah, hopefully." Jake muttered to himself as Boyle disappeared off the rooftop. His heart began to race as he watched the main doors, waiting for Amy to appear. He heard her before he saw her, chatting loudly, and happily to Rosa about some case they'd closed a few days previously. He loved the sound of her voice, god did he love it - he loved waking up to her sleepy hellos in the mornings, he loved listening to her talk about something she loved, he loved her, everything about her.
He couldn't help but smile to himself. Boyle was right. It was all going to be fine. He loved this girl and he wanted to spend his life making her happy, that had to count for something, right?
"I mean, - Jake?" Amy stopped, shocked. "Whats going on?"
Rose slinked back inside, leaving Jake and Amy standing on the rooftop alone.
"Its not the roof where we had our first date, but its as close as I could get." Jake said.
"You still count the stakeout as our first date?"
"Yeah." Jake said, smiling. "I do."
"Whats going on Jake?"
"First of all, these are for you." Jake handed her the flowers.
"Oh, Jake - they're beautiful!" Amy took a deep sniff, the flowery perfume overwhelming her senses. "Its not my birthday though."
"I know. Your birthday's in a month, I know that."
"Then what are you doing?"
"I am going to ask you something. And I need you to be quiet for a second, so I can get this all out. Promise?"
"Promise..."
Jake reached into his pocket, getting down on one knee.
"Oh my god-"
"You promised me you'd be quiet."
"Sorry. Shutting up."
"Amy Santiago, I love you. I love you more than I could ever really explain. Being with you makes all my bad days better, and no job, or case ever sucks too much if I get to work it with you. Same goes for basically everything in our lives. You make me happier than I've ever been before, and I can't imagine a world where my partner, in every sense of the word, isn't Amy Santiago. Will you make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?" Jake looked at her, his heart beating out of his chest as he waited for an answer.
"Yes. Yes! God, do you even need to ask?"
'Kinda, yeah -"
Amy shut him up halfway through his sentence, leaning down to kiss him sloppily.
"Let me get up first Amy, Jesus!"
"Sorry." Amy laughed, not looking a single bit sorry.
Jake got shakily to his knees, slipping the ring onto her finger. "I love you."
"I love you too." Amy said, throwing her arms around his neck, kissing him properly. It felt like fireworks were going off behind his eyes as they kissed, and Jake couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he heard the familiar noise of a firework being let off. Did feelings come with sound effects now?
"You went full Boyle on it." Amy whispered, breaking their kiss.
"Huh?" Jake looked around to see fireworks shooting off the roof, Boyle and Rosa standing to the side looking very smug, Boyle happily tossing bright, glittery confetti at them. He should have known Boyle would still pull something amazing out of the bag, despite Rosa's many veto's. "Full Boyle with a Peralta edge."
"What does that even mean?"
"No idea." Jake grinned. "Not that it even matters, future Mrs Peralta."
"Mm, maybe not. I think Santiago-Peralta has more of a ring to it. Detective Santiago-Peralta, at your service."
"Double barrelled, sexy."
"You're such an idiot."
"An idiot thats your future husband."
"There's no one else in the world I'd rather be marrying, Jake." Amy said, kissing him softly again. "Our kids aren't having a double barrelled name though."
"Oh, god no. Imagine how much grief they'd get in school over it?"
"Not that it would matter. They'll have two of the best detectives in the city as their parents, they'll be the coolest kids in the playground."
"Not if you say stuff like that."
"Don't even deny it, you've got the embarrassing dad act down to a T."
"Shut up and watch the fireworks Amy."
"How romantic!"
"You know I love you." Jake said. "So much."
"Then heres to us Peralta. We're a good team."
"We're the best." Jake corrected, wrapping a protective arm around her as he half watched the fireworks, half kept an eye on the beautiful woman pressed into his side who would now one day be his wife. He mightn't be too good at grand gestures, and extravagant romance, but he knew how to love Amy Santiago, and the other stuff was just an aside.
He loved Amy Santiago, and now he got to do it for the rest of forever.
Jake had long ago accepted he was a goner when it came to Amy, so he just embraced it. Loving her forever was going to be better than anything else the world could ever offer. Except maybe if the world offered him a pet sloth, because if it came down to it, he couldn't guarrentee Amy would come out on top of that one.
Or maybe he could.