CHAPTER EIGHT | FOREVER

viii. the one where jake ruins their weekend

IT'S FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON when Captain Holt calls the emergency meeting. Being Friday night, Kat had plans. She's all the more eager to get home to see her dog who is being watched by one of her neighbours.

Hair pulled into a loose bun, sweater the same she had worn yesterday (a few sizes too large), she walks into the briefing room to find it almost empty. So far, it's just herself, Terry, Jake, Charles, and Rosa. Predictably, the air smelled faintly of Boyle's signature cologne—Canyon Stank—and burnt coffee. It was as comforting of a smell that Kat could get whilst at work.

Coffee cup in hand, she drops her bag on her usual table and takes the seat beside Rosa. Like normal, it had been free. Legs draped over the desk, Rosa's eyes briefly meet Katherine's, corners of her lips curling slightly in greeting.

Taking a sip of her coffee and slopping into her chair, Kat curiously calls out to the sergeant, "What's up with the emergency meeting?"

However, before he can respond, Amy walks in wearing a coral-pink dress, heels clicking against the tiled flooring. She brushes her hair off her shoulder as she sets her belongings on her allocated desk, smiling bashfully at the praises and compliments that ring through the room.

"Whoa, Detective Santiago!"

"Big date tonight," she says. She turns around to her friends, raising her brows hopefully. "How do I look?"

Kat tilts her head slightly, taking in her best friend's appearance. "Not usually a fan of pink, but you look hot," she admits. Amy's smile widens.

"Well, I think you look—" Jake pulls out his phone with a mischievous smile and taps a button. The sound of a donkey braying coming out of the speakers. "Sorry, that was supposed to be a catcall." Amy scowls at him, a hand planted on her hip. "I don't know how this works..."

Rosa leans forward to grab Detective Santiago's attention. "Hey, is this why you were getting makeup tips from the prostitute in the holding cell?" she asks.

"I just wanted to know how she got such smoky eyes," Amy defends herself quietly. She grimaces. "Turns out it was STD rash."

Over the next few minutes, the rest of the fourth-floor filters into the briefing room, officers conversing with mindless chatter and sipping terrible coffee.

The moment Captain Holt walks in, everyone stops their conversations. "Detective Peralta has made a collar in the jewellery store heist," he announces.

Charles grins and holds up his hand for his best friend to high-five him. "Way to go, Jakey!" he praises cheerfully.

Jake clears his throat and quickly ushers Boyle's hand down. "Ah, that's okay," he dismisses timidly.

Katherine's eyes narrow to slits as she turns around to look at him. "What the hell did you do?" He purses his lips and diverts his eyes away from her. "Good God, you've killed someone to get the evidence to make the arrest!"

Rosa raises a brow at Peralta. "Damn," she says in surprise. "Did you kill someone?"

Raymond Holt rolls his eyes. "He didn't get sufficient evidence to make it stick, so we have the next forty-eight hours to fix his mistake." As he places his clipboard on the podium, the entire room groans in frustration.

Kat's expression turns thunderous. "Oh, that is so much worse than murder," she snaps. Jake flinches. "Let me guess, you had no evidence when you arrested him."

He scoffs. "What? You seriously think that little of me?" She continues to stare at him.

"Jake," Amy speaks up warningly. "What did you have when you arrested this guy?"

He clears his throat. "Some pretty ironclad stuff, actually," he says. He hesitates for a second, before adding softly, "He might've called me something and I got pissed off..." He tentatively smiles at Amy and Kat who are glaring at him with the force of a thousand suns. "Case closed...?"

"If we don't find something conclusive, it jeopardizes the case and opens the department up to a lawsuit," Holt says. "So, cancel your plans. We're here until this is over."

Katherine drops her head into her hands and inhales a deep breath. Forty-eight hours. That means she wouldn't be home for forty-eight hours. With cold, soulless eyes, she straightens herself to continue glaring at the man responsible.

"Damn it, Peralta!"

Jake fails to dodge a ball of paper thrown at him. "Ow!" he yells dramatically.

Holt silences them all once more by raising his hand. "I know everyone's mad at Peralta for ruining their weekend."

But when he doesn't continue, Jake looks around the room with pursed lips. His eyes return to the captain as he adds, "But?"

"That was it," Raymond retorts. "I was just demonstrating for Detective Peralta what a fact is."

While a smile does flash across Kat's face for a second, it quickly drops to be replaced by her previous scowl. She gathers that this is going to be her expression for majority of the weekend. She grabs her bag off the desk and smacks the back of Jake's head as she walks past him.

Instead of yelling at her, he sighs to himself and nods as he accepts his fate. "That tracks," he mutters under his breath.

Katherine slumps back into her desk chair as reality finally sinks in. With a heavy sigh, she grabs her phone and calls the one person she prays would be able to help her.

"Kat!" the young girl answers cheerfully. "Hi! Bear's doing good, we just went for a walk, and I'm gonna tell you this because you'll probably find out anyway, but I found him eating this dead bird and tried to get him away—"

She has to smile at her rambling. "Tisha, chill out," she assures. "So, uh, I've got some bad news."

"Uh oh. Did Scully eat your lunch again? Or did Boyle take it?"

"Surprisingly no, but thanks for bringing back my paranoia." Kat smiles again when she hears Tisha giggle. "So, the bad news... It's looking like I'm gonna be stuck at work all weekend. And I feel really bad asking you, but is there any chance you could check in on Bear? I'll pay you extra, of course—"

"Hey, you don't pay me normally, I don't want money. It's chill, don't worry. If Dad lets me, I can stay at your place instead and hang out. Is that cool?"

"Yeah, of course. You know where the key is." As her eyes flick around the bullpen, she meets Rosa's, finding the woman already watching her. "Call me if you need anything, okay? And thanks again, you're literally saving my life."

"No worries, I'm being paid with dog kisses." Kat grins when she hears Bear bark, then Tisha shrieks shortly after. "I gotta go, I'm being attacked, it's not looking good. Good luck!"

She laughs. "See you, Tish." Almost as soon as she hangs up the call, Rosa walks over to her. Kat looks up with a small smile. "Everything okay?"

"No, 'cause I'm gonna be stuck here all weekend," Diaz snaps a little heatedly. She groans in frustration. "Sorry. I'm pissed at Peralta."

Katherine hums. "Join the club," she says, deadpanned.

Rosa smiles slightly. "So, uh, who were you talking to?" she asks, nodding to the phone on her desk.

"Oh! One of my neighbours helps look after Bear when I'm away for too long so I just asked if she could cover this weekend, you know, courtesy of Peralta." Kat's eyebrows furrow ever so slightly as Rosa stares at her. She reaches up and waves a hand in front of her face. "Hey, you good?"

Of course, Gina had heard the entire conversation. She saunters over and grins salaciously at her sister, managing to say something before Rosa can answer. "Is this the girl you were gonna go on a date with?" she asks.

Kat's lip curls back in a grimace. "Ew, no, she's fifteen," she denies. Gina's brows furrow in confusion. "It's Tisha, the kid that moved in door next to me, remember?"

"Right, yeah, the little bitch who called me a bitch."

"Please, you slammed the door in her face a second after answering it," she retorts exasperatedly. "It was well deserved."

Rosa folds her arms over her leather jacket. "So, you've got a date with someone?"

Kat lets out a soft sigh, tongue running over her lip. "Nope," she denies. "Well, I asked this girl, but she said no."

"Now this is the appropriate time to call someone a bitch!" Gina chimes in.

Rosa nods in agreement with her. "Yeah, she's a loser," she says.

"Thanks," Katherine says with a small, appreciative smile. "It's okay, her loss."

Gina places her hands on her sister's shoulders and plants a kiss on the top of her head. "Exactly," she confirms. "Her loss. Anyone would be lucky to have you." She turns to look at Rosa pointedly, who rolls her eyes and walks off without a word.

Since Gina wants to actively procrastinate all form of work, she manages to convince Kat—who was already reluctant on starting the case—to compete with her in a game of Monopoly in the break room.

Eventually, it gains the attention of Charles and Terry. In amusement, they watch the sisters yell at each other throughout the hour-long game, their competitiveness getting to the point where the board is swiped cleanly off the table.

It's nothing new, though. The entire precinct was used to the Linettis getting into arguments with each other daily. To most, it was like their own personal reality show.

After having her curiosity peaked by the yelling, Rosa walks into the room. "Hey, Gina," she calls out.

With a groan of anger, Gina tosses her pile of money onto the ground. "Stupid, stupid game," she mutters. Kat grins triumphantly. "Wassup?"

"Can you order food for us at the Flatbush Diner?" Rosa smiles just at the thought. "They make the best pies in New York City."

Gina presses her fingertips together and clicks her tongue. "Oopsie! You said something super dumb." Kat makes a show of rolling her eyes. "The best pie in the city's at Crust."

"Wrong," Rosa denies as she walks closer to their table. Her eyes narrow at the assistant. "Ignorant and wrong."

Gina abruptly stands up, her chair screeching on the floor. "Uh, you think you can just bully people, but you can't. It's not okay." Kat's eyes squint as she predicts the final part to her sister's sentence. "I'm the bully around here, ask anyone!"

Deciding that they need a third opinion, Rosa turns to the detective. "Hey, Crust or Flatbush?"

Kat takes a moment to think over the question. "Neither," she answers. Both women stare at her in disbelief. "I prefer cheesecake over pie."

Rosa sighs and nods her head over to Charles pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Boyle, you're always blogging on that foodie website." He glances over his shoulder to her. "Which pie's better?"

Gina moves to stand next to him and folds her arms as a tactic to intimidate him into agreeing with her. "Yeah," she says. "Whose do you like better, mine or Rosa's?" Terry perks up from his place on the couch, interested to see where this is going.

With wide eyes, Charles looks to Kat for help, but she only shrugs at him. "Oh, uh, you know, I—I haven't been to either place yet." As he stutters out his answer, his eye begins to twitch every few seconds.

Kat frowns at him. "Hey, why's your eye twitching?" she asks.

He scoffs, defensive. "Wouldn't you like to know." He then dramatically winks at her. She purses her lips.

"Could I see you for a second in the evidence lockup?" Gina asks. She doesn't wait for him to respond before grabbing onto his blazer and dragging him out of the room.

Terry takes Gina's former seat and looks over the Monopoly board. "So, who won?" he asks, brows furrowing in confusion at the missing money and cards.

Kat sifts through her rather large pile of fake cash and holds it up with a triumphant grin. "Two thousand dollars," she states proudly.

"When we played last month, she somehow got ten thousand," Rosa tells the sergeant. Terry's eyes widen dramatically. "She's rigged it somehow."

Detective Linetti continues to wave her stack of bills around in the air. "You don't need to rig the game if you've got skill!"

Jake Peralta had thought of a genius plan. He, as well as everyone else, was sick and tired of watching Katherine win game after game of Monopoly. So, before their game night had begun, he had arrived at her apartment with wads of fake cash in his pockets from multiple other boardgames.

He needed to give himself an advantage.

Half an hour later...

"You sick son of a bitch!" he hisses, incredulous. He and the rest of the squad watch in disbelief as Kat holds her hand out for him to pay her two-thousand dollars.

In horror, Jake watches his cheat-money, along with everyone else's, end up in her pile. Rosa Diaz lets out a scream of frustration as she swipes the board clean, lunging forward to snap it in half and storm out of the apartment.

Five minutes later, Gina and Charles still haven't returned, so Kat gathers that her sister is accusing him of telling Rosa what she wants to hear because he still has a crush on her. During those five minutes, she gets more and more curious about the man Jake had arrested who sits in the dimly lit interrogation room.

Curiosity finally winning, she wanders into the observation room to find one of her best friend's pulling ridiculous faces at the one-way glass. Without speaking a word, she purposely slams the door behind her. Loudly.

Jake jumps a few inches into the air and places a hand over his heart as he spins around to her. "Jesus Christ," he exclaims.

"I think of myself more as God but suit yourself." Kat folds her arms as she moves to stand next to him. "I'm still livid at you but explain this to me."

He clears his throat and quickly nods. "Well... you know the story of the robbery." He sighs as he looks at Dustin Whitman on the other side of the glass, who looks far too calm for Jake's liking. "I know I don't have anything against him yet, but I swear he did it."

Katherine's eyebrows slowly knit together as she studies Whitman. She narrows her eyes as she tries to place his familiar face. "Hold on, didn't you arrest him a few years ago?" she queries.

"Sure did."

"And you think he did it because..."

"He called me Joke Peralta."

She shakes her head. "Good God, this is going to be a long few days." She glances to him to find that he's returned to pulling faces at the glass. "And you still think he did it."

"Swear on my life," he confirms seriously.

"Good," she nods. Jake hesitantly looks back over to her. "Because at the end of this, if we find out he didn't do it, I'll kill you myself."

He blinks. "You can be super scary sometimes," he says. She smiles.

A few moments later, Captain Holt joins them. He nods to Katherine, then turns his eyes to Jake. "Planning your strategy?" he questions the detective.

"No, I'm just making funny faces at him," Jake replies. Kat forces herself to keep a straight face when he bares his teeth at the glass, then pokes his tongue out as he crosses his eyes. She can't laugh because she's still mad at him. "This mirrored glass is awesome. It straight-up works!"

"An effective use of your limited time," Holt says.

Kat hums. "Welcome to the mind of Jake Peralta."

"It actually is effective," Jake agrees. He turns to look at the pair stood beside to him. "That's how I got him last time. Let him stew for a little bit, got in his head, and he confessed."

"You better be right."

"Oh, he's bet his life on it," Kat states with a wide smile.

Jake hums. "I am," he reassures Holt confidently. He grabs the case file off the desk behind him. "Hey, can you guys make some funny faces while I'm in there? I wanna see if I can tell."

Kat sighs once he leaves the room to go and join Whitman. "Sorry, sir, but I don't have the mental capacity to watch this," she declares.

The captain nods in understanding. "Fair enough," he says.

She's only back in the bullpen for less than ten minutes before Jake returns. By the look on his face, she immediately jumps to the conclusion that interrogating Dustin Whitman had not gone as well as he had expected it to.

"Confessed already?" Kat calls out, leaning back in her chair and clasping her hands together with a small smirk.

Jake sends a saccharine smile her way. He spreads his hands as the squad looks to him expectantly. "So, looks like we're gonna be here for a while," he informs them. "Should someone do a coffee run?" Everyone, including Charles, glares at him. Clearly, that disturbs him greatly, as a nervous laugh slips past his lips. "You know what? Coffee's on me. Oh, but no froofy Frappuccinos or anything, I've only got, like, ten bucks."

Amy struts past him and snatches the bill out of his hand.

He purses his lips together. "Okay..."

"She'll be getting the most expensive Frappuccino on the menu, by the way."

"Thank you for your input, Katherine. I am very well aware."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Due to the amount of work that needed to be conducted, majority of the squad had been up well into the night, and just as expected, they had all stayed at the precinct. Katherine had, unfortunately, been up since four in the morning. That meant she had gotten two hours of sleep in total. Her idea had been to stay up as late as she possibly could, which would hopefully gift her some leads or clues that Whitman might have actually done the crime.

Of course, neither of those things had happened. She had nothing. She was pissed off, extraordinarily tired, and had nothing.

Raymond Holt walks out of his office at approximately seven-thirty. "Rise and shine, detectives," he yells. "Rise and shine!" Amy lurches off the pillow on her desk that she had been sleeping on, and Kat reaches over to brush hair out of her eyes. "Peralta, I want you to bring everyone up to speed."

Jake squints his eyes as he studies the captain's appearance. "You slept in your office, and you look exactly the same," he observes. "How?"

"What are you talking about?" he counters in his usual monotone voice. "My hair is a mess."

Kat hums. "Want to borrow my brush, sir?"

Holt waves a hand at her to dismiss the suggestion. "Maybe later. Briefing room, five minutes," he calls out to the bullpen.

Charles slowly straightens himself from his slumped position in his chair. The basketball he had been using as a pillow rolls onto the ground. "How long were we asleep?" he asks, blinking his eyes open.

"Just long enough for me to squeeze in a quick workout," Terry says nonchalantly. He continues lifting the printers he had strapped with crime-scene tape to use as weights. "So, like, three hours."

"Morning," Rosa greets them all after taking a sip of her coffee. She looks the exact opposite as everyone on the squad: clean clothes, skin clean and shiny, and hair still damp from a shower.

Jake groans in frustration at the mere sight of her. "Ugh. I can't believe you live nearby and won't let anyone crash at your place," he complains.

Rosa drops her bag onto her desk and turns back around to him. "You people already know too much about me," she points out.

"I know exactly three facts about you, and one of them is that you won't let any of us crash at your place," he says dryly.

Katherine points a finger over to him. "That's three too many things," she counters.

Rosa nods as she removes her sunglasses. "Exactly," she states. Her eyes catch Amy's figure as the woman stands up. "Is that a nightgown?" she asks in amusement.

Amy glances down to the large, white t-shirt she's wearing. "That's mine," Terry pipes up. "It's a t-shirt from my fat phase."

Santiago nods, and as she turns around, they see the print on the back. Kat's eyes squint as she reads it aloud, wondering if she's so tired that she had made a mistake in the spelling. "'If at first you don't secede,'" she says slowly, "'try try again.'"

"When you're that big, you buy anything that fits," Terry explains. "A lot of fat guy clothes have racist overtones."

Kat doesn't bother hiding her yawn as she leans back in her chair. She doesn't even want to see her reflection in a mirror. There's no doubt there are large, purple bags underneath her eyes.

As she stands up to head into the briefing room, Rosa stops in front of her. "Here," she says, placing the takeaway cup in her hand on the desk.

Katherine's eyes light up at the gesture and the sight of her favourite drink. "Aw, is this for me?" she asks with a smile.

Rosa frowns. "I just said it was."

"Sorry, I am so tired." She gratefully takes a sip of the steaming hot coffee, and then she realises that Rosa had willingly bought her one on her way here.

Rosa Diaz had willingly spent money on her.

Rosa Diaz had bought her a coffee.

Once everyone is inside the briefing room, each with their own mandatory mug full of caffeine, Jake places his hands on the podium and clears his throat. "Okay, a couple of quick announcements. First, I met our night janitor, Ronald. If any of you are missing hand sanitizer, he drank it. Second, our warrants finally went through." He ignores how all of them are staring at him tiredly and with just a sliver of frustration. "We gotta place Whitman at the scene and prove that he either possessed or sold those diamonds."

Captain Holt steps up next to the detective. "I know you're all tired," he addresses them with a nod. "But don't forget why we're here."

"Because we're dedicated detectives," Jake responds with a smile. He flinches when he notices that Kat is staring at him with no emotion, which is almost worse than yesterday's fuming glares.

"Because Peralta jumped the gun," Raymond corrects without a beat of silence.

"Yep."

"Get to work."

Jake grins as Holt walks out. "So, we both had good answers."

"This isn't a joke," Amy tells him with a scowl. "You're ruining our weekend."

"Okay, I'm sorry you had to cancel dinner with your dad."

"Date," she hisses. "I had a date."

Rosa decides to back him up. "Hey, if Jake says the guy did it, that usually means the guy did it."

Kat huffs an angry sigh, but nods in agreement. "I hate it," she says, looking over to Rosa, "but she's right."

Jake gestures to them. "Thank you!" he exclaims appreciatively. "Everyone listen to Kat and Rosa."

"No, we are still furious at you," Katherine reminds him, eyes narrowing to emphasise said emotion. When he looks over at Rosa, she merely raises her brows, silently agreeing with Kat.

"Okay, no one listen to Rosa or Kat. They are clearly working together on this crime." They both roll their eyes. Jake sighs. "I'm gonna go take another crack at Whitman."

Amy smiles slightly. "You've been in there, like, five times," she points out. "What are you gonna do? Annoy him into talking?"

He stops to turn around and look her in the eyes. "Ha, ha." A few minutes later, Jake returns to the briefing room where everyone is still seated and passes Terry the guitar in his hand. "Didn't work. Thank you. Did not work."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Katherine Linetti is up to her sixth coffee of the day. The caffeine isn't even working anymore; drinking it is purely out of habit. She stares at the file of documents Jake had given her to look through, and she unintentionally goes cross-eyed. "God, I am so tired," she mutters, rubbing the heel of her palm over her eyes.

"Me too," Jake agrees. He looks between her and Amy as he asks, "Can one of you slap me? I can barely keep my eyes op—" Before he can finish, Katherine quickly wheels her chair over to his desk and firmly slaps him across his cheek. "Son of a bitch!" he screeches in agony, hand clutching his cheek. He stares at her with wide eyes of disbelief. "Why would you do that?"

She squints her eyes at him. "One, you asked us to," she says simply. Amy nods pointedly, lips curled into a smirk after watching the altercation first-hand. No doubt, it's made Kat's and her weekends. "Two, I really wanted to."

Jake rubs his cheek and sighs. "Yeah, that sounds about right..." He rolls his eyes at the satisfied smile she sends his way. "Okay, do either of you have the bank records?"

Amy nods and hands him the manilla file beside her keyboard. "Good thing I didn't reschedule my date for tonight," she says, tone flat and dry. "We're never leaving here."

Jake flips through the pile of stapled papers. "Well, maybe that's a good thing, you know?"

Kat tilts her head slightly. "In what world is this a good thing?" she retorts, eyes narrowing as she pictures slapping him again.

"For starters," he begins. He turns back to Amy. "I've saved you from another lame internet date with some lame guy named Dirk, or Mar—garine." He scrunches up his nose.

"He's not lame, okay?" Amy crosses her arms. "He works with a friend of mine. He has a human name, and I'm not telling you what it is, because you'll look him up and make fun of him."

"Does Kat know his name?" Jake asks, eyes now glued to his computer screen.

Amy hums. "She does," she confirms.

He drops the file onto his desk. "I can't believe you think so little of me—" His eyes briefly flick over to Kat. "I can't believe either of you think so little of me," he corrects himself as he quickly types something up, "that you would just automatically assume—Is it Luke Meuller?"

The women share a look of disbelief and hurry around the desks to get a glimpse of his screen. "How did you do that?" Amy scoffs.

"Well, you only have one friend beside Kat. Kylie. And she has seven male co-workers: goatee, goatee, jaunty fedora, profile pic is a sunset, Tasmanian devil tattoo, goatee." Jake clicks on the last profile and brings up Luke's page. "Leaving Luke as the only viable option."

"Huh." Kat smiles as he tilts his head up to look up at her. "If only you could be this good of a detective on the actual case we're all stuck here working on."

Amy snorts. "Well, he's nice," she defends her date. "And he uses proper punctuation in texts."

"Dreamboat," he nods, feigning understanding.

"And I wanted to go out with him," she adds. Kat shares a smile with her. Amy deserves to have this for herself.

"All right," Jake Peralta declares. "You know what? Reschedule for tonight." Katherine's eyebrows raise, sceptically and in surprise of his confidence. "I promise I will get us out of here in time."

She sighs. "If only you could keep your promises..."

His eyes widen in offence at the moment in time she recalls. "Okay, that was one time, Kat," he yells. "One time!"

Amy grabs her phone as she rolls her eyes at their bickering that is no doubt about to kick off. "No, I'm gonna hold you to that," she tells Jake seriously.

"Where's he taking you?" Rosa calls out, having heard the end of their conversation.

"Terrific! Let's get everyone involved," Amy says sarcastically. Charles spins his chair around to participate. "Dinner and a movie." Rosa blows a raspberry into the palms of her hands. "Dinner and movie is the perfect first date."

"It's not bad," Kat agrees with a shrug. "It's just gotta be a good movie and good food." Rosa glances over her shoulder to look at her for a short moment.

Charles spreads his hands. "I think the perfect first date doesn't feel like a first date at all, because you've known each other for a few years, maybe even work together..." Kat's brows raise in amusement, knowing that he's still hung up on Rosa. "And one night you're laughing, and then all of a sudden, it's just like blammo! Kissing."

"For me: cheap dinner, watch basketball, bone down."

"So pretty much the same as what I said," Boyle smiles.

Kat raises a brow. "That's seriously what you'd do?" she asks.

Rosa shrugs a shoulder. "I could be open to other ideas," she says simply.

Amy's eyes widen as she suddenly remembers what to ask her best friend. She spins around to Kat. "Hey, how did it go with Lucy?"

She sighs at how everyone is still listening. "Thanks," she mutters. Amy grimaces apologetically.

"Who's Lucy?" Rosa questions curiously.

"The girl I told you and Gina about earlier, the one that said no to the date."

Amy sighs and rests her chin on Kat's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispers. "You deserve so much better."

Kat pats her hand gently. "It's okay," she replies quietly. She forces a smile onto her face.

"The next person who tells you no, I'll track them down and punch them in the face," Rosa says lowly. Kat's eyes sparkle with amusement as she glances to her, but her small smile drops when she notices how serious she is. "I mean it. She won't be able to walk for a week. Maybe ever. Probably ever."

"I thought you were aiming for the face," Amy points out in confusion.

"Changed my mind."

"You are so consistent," Jake remarks with a smile.

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

The task that had been presented to Kat, Charles, and Rosa was to search the CODIS to find if anything recorded at the crime scene yesterday matched Whitman's fingerprints. "None of the partials match Whitman," Rosa groans in frustration. "If he did it, he didn't leave any prints."

Charles stares at the screen for another few seconds before suggesting, "Maybe he doesn't have any. Interesting fact about me, I once burnt my fingerprints off on a wok."

Kat points to him, taking the proposition seriously. "Maybe Whitman burnt his fingerprints off on a wok," she says. Diaz rolls her eyes in exasperation.

"Hi, hello!" Gina makes her way across the bullpen carrying two bags, a bright smile on her face.

"What are you doing?" Boyle asks, brows furrowed in confusion. "Holt said you didn't have to come in today."

Kat narrows her eyes suspiciously at her sister. "You don't even come in on days you're supposed to work," she points out. "Did someone bribe you? Are you being blackmailed?"

"No," she shakes her head with a roll of her eyes. "Because I'm so nice, I brought two pies!" She sets the bags down on Charles's desk. "Also, Katie, I brought you dinner 'cause I know you haven't eaten all day."

Kat stands up to peck her sister's cheek. "You're the best," she smiles. Gina gives her a look that says, I know.

Rosa's brows raise as she glances over to Kat. "You haven't eaten today?" she asks. Boyle looks over to her, then doubletakes as he registers the hint of concern in her voice.

Kat shakes her head as she takes out the noodle box from the bag. "Between working and Jake's shenanigans, I haven't gotten the chance to," she replies. Rosa's lips dip down into a frown for a short moment.

Gina takes out the two boxes from inside as she says, "One of the pies is from Crust, and one's also from... Flatbush Diner." Kat watches Charles immediately tense up. "Hey, you know what might be fun? Kat and Charles could try them and tell us which one is better!"

Katherine leans closer to one of the pie boxes and inhales a deep breath. "Okay," she agrees. Gina squeals. "But only because I'm starving."

Gina grins widely. "How much fun is this?"

"So fun," Charles says apathetically.

"Yay!" Gina exclaims. She taps her fingers on either box. "Yum, yum, yum. Yummy."

Carrying her box of noodles and chopsticks, Kat moves her chair over to give room for their pie testing. "I'm not eating pie 'til I finish this," she announces in between bites.

Gina gives her a thumbs up and opens the box containing her allocated dessert. "All the more focus on Charles!" Boyle blanches a shade lighter at her words. She cuts a slice out and places it onto a paper plate for him. "Here."

Silence hangs over their heads as they all watch with anticipation as Charles takes a small bite of the pie. After chewing for a few seconds in thought, he nods. "It's all right," he confesses. "Six out of twelve."

"Out of twelve?" Gina repeats in confusion. "Why?"

"For the twelve components of food satisfaction," he explains, frowning at them because to him it's blatantly obvious. "Salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami, odour, sound—"

Kat drops her box of noodles on her desk, nose scrunching up. "Sound?" she repeats. "And umami? Charles, come on."

Gina points over to the plate with the slice of Flatbush Diner's pie. "Try her nasty pie," she commands with a nod.

Charles slides the plate over and digs his fork into the dessert. Rosa and Gina both lean forward closer to him. Kat's eyes narrow as she watches him try not to gag at the taste of it.

And then, he looks up to Rosa with wide eyes. "Oh, wow." Katherine shoves another mouthful of vegetables into her mouth and rolls her eyes. "That's the best pie I ever had."

Rosa lets out a triumphant laugh and gets up in Gina's face to make fun of her. "No," Gina protests firmly, arms tightly folded across her chest. She refuses to let Rosa win. "No. No, no, no."

Kat leans closer to Charles, the two women too busy distracted with one another to hear what she's about to say. "Stop lying," she whispers to him. Charles's head snaps over to her, and he sighs when he notices the pointed look on her face.

Terry wanders over to the desk with pies, eyes narrowed. "What's this?" he asks.

"We were running calls to pawn shops and then waiting for them to call back," Charles tells the sergeant.

"I didn't ask what you were doing." His eyes flick down to the pies. "I asked what you are doing."

"Pie taste test," Rosa answers. She glances over to Kat. "It's almost over—I'm winning." Gina quickly shakes her head.

Terry straightens himself. "That's unacceptable," he says. Boyle hesitantly looks up to him. "If you wanna know which restaurant has better pies, you can't just have one guy try one pie from each place."

"But Kat was gonna—"

"You can't even have two people try a piece from each place," he interrupts. "Everybody needs to try all the pies from both places."

Kat nods and points a chopstick to him. "Smart," she agrees. "Change the sample size to get a more accurate average."

"Sure, whatever you said. Now... It's time to eat some pie!"

After washing her mouth of the taste of Asian cuisine, Kat tries to ignore the judgemental eyes on her from both Gina and Rosa as she studies the two plates of pie before her. She looks up to the whiteboard Terry had created for the judging. So far, Crust is winning.

Her eyes move to her sister, then to Rosa. Slowly, she places the forkful of Flatbush Diner pie into her mouth.

Before she can even start to chew, Rosa sits down in the chair beside her. "Well?" she presses impatiently.

Gina quickly nods. "Yeah, well?"

Kat swallows and purses her lips as she locks eyes with Rosa. "It's interesting," she says. Gina grins, immediately assuming that her opinion isn't going to be great. "As far as pie goes..."

"It's the best," Rosa smiles.

"Actually, it's awful," she corrects. Gina lets out a loud laugh when Rosa freezes, turning as still as a statue. "Sorry, but I can't even lie to you, it's that bad."

Gina snickers as she slaps Rosa's shoulder in a playful manner. "I told you," she exclaims. "I told you!"

Kat grimaces at her friend's blank expression. "Sorry, Rosa."

"Diaz," she corrects bluntly. Her eyes meet Kat's for a second. "It's Diaz."

"I've known you for almost five years," she responds with a roll of her eyes. "You don't call me Linetti, so—"

"It's Diaz, Linetti." Rosa stands up from the chair and walks off into the kitchen. "Later."

Kat groans in frustration and shoves another forkful of the awful pie into her mouth. "Damn it," she mutters in annoyance.

Gina takes the chair Rosa had just recently occupied, and she takes a scoop of the Crust pie that has yet to be eaten. "Oh, dang," she comments, voice muffled slightly. "Still no first name basis? That's cold, girl."

"Don't call me 'girl.'"

"You got it, girl."

"Gina."

"No worries, girl."

Kat throws her hands up and takes the plate off her sister to put an end to the testing. After chewing for a few seconds, she drops the fork and clasps her hands together.

Terry raises his brows as he looks to her for an answer.

"It's almost just as bad," she announces. She enjoys the moment when Gina's smile slowly starts to fall. "Neither get a win for me."

Even though she's slightly annoyed, within the kitchen a small smile adorns Rosa's face as she pours herself another cup of coffee.

Jake, on the other hand, has easily made up his mind. "Crust!" he yells, voice slightly inaudible by the food in his mouth.

Gina quickly gets over her sister's betrayal and pumps a fist into the air. "Yes!"

"Another one for Crust," Terry announces as he makes a marking next to Jake's name. "It's not looking good for Flatbush Diner."

Rosa finally makes her return to check the scoreboard and she frowns at the current results. "Aw, come on!"

Kat returns to her desk and rolls her chair over to Amy's side, then reaches over to straighten her glasses. Amy glances to her for a split-second, smiling.

Jake squints his eyes at Rosa as he takes in her appearance. "You went home and showered?" he observes, insanely frustrated by the convenient location of her apartment. "That's so unfair!"

"I'm just glad I keep a toothbrush here," Charles says with a smile.

"Oh, cool," Jake nods. "Hey, can I borrow it?"

Kat and Amy share a grimace, and Charles looks back over to his best friend reluctantly. "Uh... why do you wanna borrow the toothbrush?" he asks, not particularly wanting to hear the answer.

"What possible answer could he give that would make you say yes?" Amy points out.

"I wanna brush my teeth," Jake says nonchalantly.

Kat pulls a face. "Dude," she says disapprovingly.

"Jake, it's been in my mouth," Charles adds in disgust.

"That's the grossest thing I've ever heard," Amy proclaims as she holds up her hands.

Jake swivels his chair around to her. "That's the grossest thing you've ever heard?" he asks. Amy nods, her grimace still present. "You caught a guy on the subway with a bag of human ears."

Amy waves a hand over to him as she says, "Your thing's grosser."

"Bring out the meringues," Terry calls out.

Gina hurries over from the kitchen with white boxes stacked up in her arms. "I brought a few more!"

"That's so many!"

With a sigh, Kat makes the decision to approach Rosa. She takes the spare seat at the table in the kitchen, and Rosa instantly looks up from her plate of pie. "So," she says slowly. "You're pissed."

"I'm not pissed," Rosa shrugs. Katherine arches a brow at her. "Maybe a little pissed. But it's whatever, I'm... kinda glad you didn't lie. I hate when people lie."

"Me too," she admits with a nod. "So, we're cool?"

Rosa gives her a brief smile. "We're cool, Linetti."

Kat rolls her eyes and throws her hands up into the air as she walks away. "I can't win with you people," she yells. As she turns her back, Rosa stifles her laughter.

A few hours passes before Whitman's lawyer finally arrives at the precinct. There's just over ten hours before he's legally allowed to be set free from holding, and they're no closer to proving he's committed any crimes.

The squad stands in the bullpen behind Jake and Holt as they watch the suited man enter. "Are you the idiot that made the Friday night arrest?" he asks irritably. "I was in the Poconos with my wife. You ruined my entire weekend."

"Get in line," Jake points back to the squad behind him, all of them glaring at him with various levels of intensity, "because that's their attitude. Get your own attitude!"

"He has an alibi, geniuses. He was at Torque. It's a nightclub in Cape May, New Jersey, all night."

"Nice try," Detective Peralta claps back with a sarcastic smile. "You think I'm gonna waste six hours driving to Jersey Shore and back on some fake alibi?"

Kat huffs a sigh. "Someone should," she mutters. Amy pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose and nods in agreement.

"It's up to you," the lawyer replies with a smile. "But in ten hours, he walks."

"More like in ten hours, he walks... into prison!"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Katherine Linetti is more than fed up with hearing anything and everything about Dustin Whitman or a jewellery store robbery. For the last ten minutes, she had been at her desk with her head dropped on the table. She wants a shower, she wants to see her dog, and she wants to sleep. But there's less than an hour left before this finally ends.

She almost can't find the strength or energy to care about the repercussions for the precinct if Whitman sues them for unlawful arrest. Which, to her calculations, is very, very, very likely.

Taking a deep breath, she forces herself to sit up, just in time to see Jake wheeling a cart full of boxes containing files. "Okay," she announces, her voice rough from not drinking enough water in the last few hours. "What can we do?"

Amy nods and rubs her friend's shoulder. "Yeah, put us to work," she agrees.

Jake glances to them. "Oh, neither of your services will be necessary," he nods to Amy, "because you need to go home and change for your date." Then he looks to Kat. "And you need to go and sleep. Or get some concealer for under your eyes, either one is fine."

With a scowl, Katherine chucks the mouse for her keyboard at his head. Amy grins, although Jake manages to dodge it just in time. "Damn it," Kat mutters disappointedly.

"Kat," Rosa calls out. Once they lock eyes, she throws the detective a bottle of water.

A soft smile adorns her face. "Thanks," she says appreciatively. How had Rosa noticed?

After giving Kat a sickly-sweet smile and his middle finger, Jake's eyes flick back to Amy. "I called handsome Luke and explained the weekend was entirely my fault, partially. And he wants to go out with you tonight!"

Kat's sudden rage toward Jake disappears. "Okay, that's sweet," she admits with a smile.

Jake nods, his own grin etched onto his face. "I know," he confirms. "I'm the best."

Her smile drops. "Do you want me to remind you that this weekend is entirely your fault?" she asks lowly, eyes narrowed as she leans across her desk.

"Nope, I'm good, no need." He points to Amy as he quickly remembers something. "Oh, and promise me you won't use the condoms in the secret pocket of your purse, okay? They're expired."

Her eyes widen a fraction, feeling vulnerable from the invasion of privacy. "How do you know what's in my purse?" she presses.

"I needed concealer for a zit," he defends himself. Amy glances to Kat in disbelief. "Plus, you know, we spend so much time together here, I know everything about everyone. Kat secretly loves Taylor Swift—"

She clicks her tongue. "Not a secret!"

"I know Hitchcock went bald at fifteen. Scully used to date Hitchcock's wife, Charles has a bike with a little basket on the front—"

"How else would you carry baguettes?" Boyle retorts with a scoff.

"And Rosa has a shower in her apartment... I think." Jake shakes his head. "I got nothing on her."

Still holding a box of pie, Rosa glances over to them. "Good," she says simply.

Amy stuffs her hands into the pockets of her pants. "Well, I guess we did just spend forty-eight hours locked in here together," she reasons.

Jake goes to nod, however, he suddenly freezes. Kat's eyes widen as she recognises the tell-tale moment of when he has an epiphany. "Oh, my God, did you just solve this?" she asks in disbelief.

"Holy crap," he murmurs to himself, not having heard her question. He leaps off his chair to sprint past them and into Holt's office.

Amy's eyes flick around in confusion. "What just happened?" she asks her best friend.

Kat grins. "Amy Santiago, you just witnessed the brilliant, yet albeit, idiotic and childish mind of Jake Peralta," she declares proudly.

At least she wouldn't have to end today having to kill her best friend. In truth, she never really wanted to do that. The small wins count.

Half an hour later, Dustin Whitman is walked out of the precinct in handcuffs. Jake had nailed him as an accomplice to the heist, where Whitman had taught one of his cellmates back in prison how to pull the robbery off.

It had been a long forty-eight hours, but Jake Peralta had been right after all.

Kat and Gina are in the middle of yet another round of Monopoly to pass the time when Charles returns to the bullpen with a plastic bag in hand. The siblings pause their game once they notice that he's walking over to Rosa who is in the middle of paperwork. They share a look with each other and turn their attention to the conversation.

"Hey, Rosa." Charles places the bag onto her desk as she looks up to him. "The Flatbush Diner's pie is terrible."

Kat grins. "There he is," she says proudly.

"It's inedible," he adds honestly. "Food is supposed to be edible."

"So you were lying?" Rosa concludes with a scowl. "What the hell, Boyle?"

Of course, Gina can't resist the opportunity to go and throw the loss in Rosa's face. Again. She giggles as she skips over to them, leaving her sister to roll her eyes and trail behind. "Put it in the suck-it bucket!" she says happily.

But then Charles turns his brutal honesty onto her. "Crust isn't any better," he states.

Katherine breathes a content sigh. "Thank you!" she exclaims.

"It's fancier, but it's all bells and whistles." Gina folds her arms and scoffs. "Desserts don't need to be clever. They just need to be good." Charles takes out the bright pink box from inside the bag. "This is the best pie in New York City."

Katherine's eyes widen as she instantly gets a smell of the warm vanilla and spiced apple as soon as the box is opened. "Oh dang," she whispers. "Are we in heaven?"

"Apple from Argos Bakery, founded in nineteen-ten. Recipe unchanged." He sticks three forks into the pie and holds his hands out. "Taste it."

The three women shuffle closer to pull their forks out of the pie. As soon as it hits her tongue, Kat hums with a wide smile. "Oh, this is good," she declares.

Rosa's eyes are wide in awe. "Damn, it is amazing."

"This pie is so good, I hate it," Gina adds as she shakes her head. She quickly dives in for another bite.

Charles crouches down slightly as he exclaims, "You just graduated pie-school, bitches!" Almost instantly, he apologises. "Sorry I said 'bitches,' I'm just really worked up."

"Don't take it back," Kat critiques him in between her bites of the delicacy. "It's very fitting."

Charles grins as he walks away, more than happy with himself. "Yow!"

Once the apple pie is demolished, everyone gathers their personal belongings together and finally heads out for the day. "Sorry for screwing up everyone's weekend," Jake apologises. They've all gathered by the elevator, and he stops at the gate. "Hey, uh, drinks on me. Who's in?"

"I will be sleeping until the end of time," Kat says with a smile. Her smile remains as she looks back to him to say, "Over my dead body am I going for drinks with you right now."

"But you can pay for them tomorrow," Rosa states. Katherine smiles at the thought of purposefully charging him an obscene amount for alcohol. She has no doubt that everyone else is thinking the exact same thing.

"Yeah, I got the date," Amy tells them, holding up her heels and dress. "I gotta change."

"Everyone's tired, Peralta," Holt calls out from his office. "They just wanna go home."

"Yeah, but I have to prove I'm not selfish," Jake counters as he turns back to the group. "So I don't care what they want!" Kat stares blankly at him. "Yeah, I heard it, that sounded bad." He looks back at Holt and sighs. "And to make up for what I did, I'll cover one shift each for all of you!" They all break into smiles and laughter as they file into the elevator. "Except Santiago."

"What?"

"I got you your date back. One nice thing from me is all you get."

for re-readers! might've made a controversial decision but.. tish has a face-claim!! sarah hyland seemed so perfect, and once i thought of her i lowkey couldn't imagine tisha as anyone else so... hayley dunphy as she grows up vibes