CHAPTER TWENTY | FOREVER

xx. the one with the letter

          IT HAD BEEN SIX MONTHS. Six months since Jake had gone undercover for the FBI, six months since Katherine had taken her sergeant's exam, and one month since Tisha Alverez had officially become a part of the Linetti family. For Kat, it had been a long first half of the year, but every second of what she had experienced made everything worth it.

There was one thing prominent on her mind, though. One thing that refused to disappear no matter how hard she tried. It wasn't if Jake was okay within the mafia, no, that matter was rather far down on her priority list.

Katherine Linetti could not stop thinking about if she had passed her exam. Terry had told her that he had waited five months before he received his results, but it had been longer than that already. She wonders if it's because she's failed. Maybe her superior officers are just taking their time to find a creative way to inform her that she didn't pass.

That has to be it. 

It's not even eight in the morning when Raymond Holt walks out of his office. Just like every other day, Kat's head snaps over to him with hope that he might have the information she so badly wants. "Linetti," he calls out.

Without taking her gaze off her phone, Gina rolls her eyes. "I'm right here, boo," she replies.

"I was talking to Detective Linetti."

She hums. "Oh cool, my B."

Katherine's eyes have widened so far that Amy is slightly worried they might stay that way permanently. "Captain?" she asks, hesitant. "Is it—"

"I have the results for your sergeant's exam," he finishes with a nod. The squad all immediately stop what they're doing and turn around to see Raymond holding a small, white envelope.

The detective in mention launches off her chair, almost tripping over her own feet as she rushes over to Holt and eagerly snatches the letter from him. But just as she is about to open it, her hands freeze. "I can't open it," she voices. "I've failed. It took so long, it's obvious! And what if—"

"You passed," Rosa interrupts. She arches a brow when Kat turns to look at her anxiously. "And if you don't open it, you'll never know and would have completely wasted the time studying for that damn exam."

Terry quickly nods in agreement with Diaz. "Open it," he urges Kat, giving her a smile.

She gnaws on her lip as the squad, including Gina, begin to chant encouragingly. When she looks to Holt, she spots the small smile on his face, and doesn't hesitate any longer as she rips open the paper. Everyone has fallen dead silent, leaning forward ever so slightly to try and get a glimpse at the letter or to distinguish the answer based on Kat's micro-expressions.  

Far too impatient, Amy stands up from her chair, eyes widening eagerly. "Did you pass?" she asks.

Katherine's eyes flick across the letter as she scans the words in seconds. She slowly lifts her head up to look at her friends. "For God's sake, tell us," Gina presses with narrowed eyes.

"I passed."

The letter falls onto the ground with a soft thump as Kat releases the breath she had been unconsciously holding. A wide, ear-splitting smile adorns her face as cheers and applause suddenly erupt across the bullpen, each person going to congratulate her in some form or another.

As she is pulled into hugs by Amy, Terry, and Charles, Holt places a hand on her shoulder for a second. She meets his eyes to find a proud smile on his face. "Congratulations, Sergeant," he says.

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Charles Boyle races out onto the fourth floor in split-seconds, pushing past people to get through the gate of the bullpen. "He's here," he shrieks. "He's here! Jake's here!" He beelines over to Terry, Kat, and Amy discussing a case file. "Okay, let's do the prank where we don't even acknowledge him when he comes in. Okay? Shh!"

Katherine raises a brow. "Oh, that's gonna go super well," she voices, a hint of sarcasm tinging her words.

"Kat, shh," Charles hisses. "Everyone, shh."

Rosa walks over to the group and stands beside Kat as they watch Charles barely keep himself together. "Someone's excited," she mumbles.

She smiles. "I think it's cute," she replies quietly.

Jake Peralta smiles brightly as he walks out of the elevator. "Back in the Nine-Nine!" he announces cheerfully.

Charles doesn't even last half a second before he whirls around, eyes comically wide. Kat winces at the volume of his screeches. Considering she's the closest to him, it's not so cute after all. "Whoo! Whoo! Hoo-hoo-hoo!" Charles grins as he points to the man. "Jake! Jake! Jake! Jake!"

Gina nods at his 'subtle' reaction. "Played to perfection, Charles," she says.

"God, I missed this place," Jake confesses. He lets out a sigh as he looks around. "Let me just soak it in." He inhales a dramatic breath. "Oh, yeah, stale coffee, fingerprinting ink, whatever Charles is fermenting in his desk."

"Beans," Boyle reveals.

"Beans! It's like I never left. All right, fill me in," Jake asks the squad eagerly. "Tell me everything I missed."

"Won't take long," Rosa says. "Only four things happened."

Kat grins as her childhood best friend locks eyes with her almost instantly. Jake's eyes widen in realisation as he remembers something incredibly important. "Oh, my God." He grabs onto her forearms. "Did you pass?"

"I passed," she yells just as loudly.

Rosa, Amy, and Terry wince at the volume of their voices.

Jake squeals with happiness and the pair jump up and down for a few moments. "My bestie's a sergeant," he exclaims proudly.

Kat grins, but when he wraps an arm around her shoulder, the smile drops. "Okay, hands off," she orders. His face falls. "Inappropriate workplace touching."

Whilst Terry smiles at her proudly, Jake rolls his eyes in annoyance. "Great, you've been in charge for, like, a week and you're ignoring the entire best friend code." When Katherine folds her arms and nods, he groans in frustration. Gina giggles. "Okay, what other three things happened?"

"Terry chipped his tooth and had a lisp for a week," Rosa informs him. Kat can't help but snicker at the memories of watching Terry interrogate the suspect. "Number three, Santiago and Boyle wore the same outfit to work one day."

Charles's lips curl into a smirk at the memory of Amy admitting that he had worn the outfit better than her.

"And Captain banned headphones form the office," Rosa continues, "due to the Gina incident." Almost everyone looks to the older Linetti sister in annoyance.

Jake nods. "Great recap," he concludes.

"Welcome back, Peralta," Raymond greets the detective.

"Captain," he smiles. They shake hands.

Holt's eyes flick over the group behind him. "Everyone has a lot of work. So, you have exactly two minutes to share personal anecdotes and those two minutes began when you entered. You now have..." He glances to his watch. "Twelve seconds left."

"Challenge accepted," Jake grins as he spins back around to the squad. "Undercover highlights. Fixed a boxing match, smoked a whole cigar without vomiting, was once in a room with ten guys named Sal, and missed you all so very much. Everyone back to work!"

However, as the group disperses and Jake heads over to his desk, he abruptly stops in his tracks. He stares at the familiar area. He then glances to Kat who is back in conversation with Terry, then to Amy stood before him. And then his jaw drops.

"Katherine Linetti, where did your desk go?" Jake just about screeches. Being right beside him, Amy's hands fly up to cover her ears.

Kat grimaces as she walks over to him. He's obviously noticed the difference in the desk formatting. "Yeah, about that," she starts hesitantly. "I moved."

His eyes bulge. "Where?" Jake shrieks. She points back to show him that she's now beside Terry. It made sense, for logistical reasons, to place both sergeants together. "You're with Terry?"

Jeffords scoffs. "Hey, Terry's a good desk partner," he calls out in offence.

Jake sarcastically smiles. "Sure you are, Sarge," he muses. "Sure you are."

Katherine sighs. "Look, just because we aren't together anymore doesn't mean things have changed," she tries to reassure him. But as she notices the look Amy is giving her, she realises that this is a much bigger deal to Jake than she had thought it would be.

"Things haven't changed?"

"Peralta," Rosa yells in annoyance. "Stop screeching like a bird."

"You're shrieking like a bird," he retorts defensively. He flinches ever so slightly at her heated scowl.

"Jake," Kat laughs. He huffs a sigh and turns back to her. "I promise, it's all good. It's just a desk, okay?"

"You're just a desk," he mumbles, his eyes narrowed in irritation.

Over the last week, Captain Holt had assigned the detective squad with the tasks of completing various drills throughout their shifts. They all had a common theme: one of the sergeants would pretend to be a civilian, where they would then have to deal with the 'complaint' or 'threat.' It's safe to say that everyone, including Kat and Terry, are becoming annoyed with the endless list of scenarios.

Rosa is focused on completing paperwork when a uniformed officer approaches her. "There's a confused old woman here who wants to talk to a detective," he informs her.

When the officer walks away, Rosa notices Terry stood behind him with a whiteboard hanging from his neck. "Oh, come on," she exclaims through gritted teeth. "Another drill?"

Terry barely acknowledges her vexation. "Hello," he begins as he walks toward her, adapting the personality of the confused old woman. "My name is Adelaide!" From her desk, Kat watches the situation play out, more than a little happy that she's no longer the main attraction for once. "I'd like to report a crime."

Rosa looks between both sergeants. "So, we're just doing one of these every day?" she asks irritably.

So far, they had witnessed Kat as an angry prostitute where she had made a dramatic scene in the middle of the bullpen, and then Terry who had been tasked with the persona of an unattended backpack. He had quite literally sat in the corner of the room and repeatedly whispered, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

"Why are we doing this?" Rosa presses them.

Kat sighs and crosses the bullpen. "It's the captain's orders," she says. As she gestures a hand to the office, Rosa and Amy see Raymond standing in the doorway watching them with a stopwatch as he times the scenario.

"My name is Adelaide Van Hoyt," Terry continues. "I'm eighty-nine years old, and I'm here to report a crime."

Once receiving a pointed look from Kat, Amy and Rosa inhale deep breaths and interact with Terry like they had been ordered. "Not a problem," Amy responds sweetly. She walks Terry over to Rosa's desk. "We can help you."

Rosa's eyes meet Kat's once more and she refrains from rolling them. "Adelaide Van Hoyt," she repeats stiffly as she notes down the information. "Eighty-nine years old." She looks back up to Terry. "Goatee, six-three, two-hundred and ninety pounds."

Katherine lets out a laugh. But when she remembers Holt is watching closely, she quickly clears her throat. "Hey," Terry exclaims defensively. "This is a tight two-forty."

"Diaz, show Adelaide some respect," Kat orders, trying to refrain herself from smiling.

As Rosa clenches her jaw, Holt shakes his head in disappointment and retreats inside his office.

An hour later, Amy and Rosa finally complete the drill—with much reluctance, of course. As Captain Holt passes by her desk, Amy leaps up to catch his attention. "Captain! We are done with the drill," she says. "The old lady confessed to a forty-year-old unsolved murder in Rhode Island. We filled out the interstate file request and remanded her to the custody of her daughter."

Rosa moves to stand beside Santiago. "Adelaide has successfully transformed back into a giant man, sir."

"Well done," Holt praises them. He stops the timer. "Thank you."

Terry smiles as he walks over to them. "Good job, guys," he says.

Amy sighs. "See? Instead of resisting, it's better to just put your head down, get the job done, and then you can get on with your day."

And just as she finishes speaking, Kat walks over with a different whiteboard hanging from her neck. It reads '7 year old boy.' This is going to be a fun one. "Hi," she says. Rosa almost smiles at how unenthused she looks. "My name is Timmy, and I'm lost."

"Son of a bitch!" Amy whirls around to Holt to find him holding up the stopwatch once more. "Captain! I hate to be harsh, but I think that these drills are slightly unnecessary, possibly. Although you are the boss, and your judgement is impeccable, and I guess what I am trying to say is thank you."

Kat and Terry share a brief glance. Despite continuing to participate in the drills—because they're being forced to—they're just as frustrated as the two detectives are.

"I agree," Rosa says. "With the stuff about the drills, not the spineless ass-kissing."

"Sir, I think it would help if we knew why we were doing these drills," Terry adds. Kat nods in agreement.

"Because I ordered you to," Holt answers firmly. He glances back to Katherine. "Resume the drill, Timmy. And do not do or say anything that a seven-year-old boy would not do or say."

"Uh, sir?" Kat grimaces slightly at his intense stare. "If it's not obvious enough, I've never been a seven-year-old boy before."

"But you do have extensive knowledge in child psychology, do you not, Sergeant Linetti?" He nods curtly at her silence. "And feel free to consult the script I've prepared."

Kat sighs through her nose. "Damnit," she mutters.

"Actually, I've gone over it," Terry proclaims. He holds up the script the captain had written for the scenario. "But, uh, it's a little stilted. 'I am feeling trepidation at the prospect of a parentless existence.'"

"Sir, even with said knowledge, that's highly likely not in a seven-year-old's vocabulary," Kat points out. "No kid talks like that."

Holt's eyes snap over to her, and she knows right then that she's wrong. "Those lines were lifted verbatim from my boyhood diary," he explains. Their brows raise in surprise, but they really should have expected it. "Resume the drill!"

The list of ideas to distract Kat—or Timmy—was extensive. After the first few plans to play with certain toys didn't work, Amy had come up with the idea to build a construction from Lego.

And it went well.

For the first fifteen minutes.

Kat knew all too well how big the attention span of a child was. She leans back in the small chair she's sitting in and sighs. "I miss my mommy," she announces. Rosa's brows raise in amusement when she chucks a piece of Lego across the room. "I'm bored."

"Captain's not here, Sarge," Rosa tells her. "You can drop the act."

"You can drop your butt," she retorts with an innocent smile.

Rosa's eyes narrow as she leans forward on the couch. "You can drop your butt!" she argues back heatedly.

Seated next to Amy, Terry sighs. "Okay, chill," he calls out. "Timmy, why don't you try and build a flower garden?"

Any hint of frustration disappears when Rosa watches Kat grin. She stifles her laughter.

Katherine's smile quickly disappears. "But I don't wanna build a flower garden," she complains loudly. Terry finally has a taste of what Amy and Rosa have been feeling over the last seven days.

"It's okay," Amy interjects calmly. "I got this." She smiles at Kat as the woman takes a sip from her juice box. "How about we finish building this tower?" She turns back to the large construction she's created. "The structure's done, but we've barely started on landscaping."

Kat suddenly grabs onto the building. "I wanna build a train station," she announces.

Rosa cackles when Kat throws the Lego structure onto the ground.

Amy's eyes widen in horror, her jaw falling open as it shatters to pieces. She stares at the mess in shock. "I worked so hard on that," she murmurs disappointedly. "There were stables!"

"These toys suck," Katherine continues, sweeping the remaining pieces of Lego off the table. She's rather enjoying playing Timmy. Terry watches the scene in amusement.

"Okay," Rosa declares. She crouches next to Kat to speak into her ear, "Then I'll get you some better toys... Timmy." As she walks out the room, Kat and Terry share a confused look. They have no idea where this is going.

Amy, however, is still staring at her destroyed masterpiece in sadness. "This is the worst day of my life," she whispers.

It had taken twenty minutes, but Rosa finally found something that she knows will entertain not only seven-year-old Kat, but all of them. After all, if they're stuck doing these stupid drills, they might as well make the most of the time. Rosa Diaz had found an inflatable bouncy castle in the evidence lockup and boy did Katherine Linetti love her for it.

After realising that his desk was trembling, Raymond Holt had followed the loud laughing and shrieks to the balcony. He shakes his head when he finds Terry, Kat, Rosa, and Amy jumping around on the castle. Discarded to the side are their shoes and the whiteboard Kat had worn around her neck.

"Jump, Timmy! Now you're having fun!"

"Sergeants!"

They immediately stop moving. Terry's eyes widen at Holt's sudden presence. "Captain, we were just, uh—"

Rosa pokes her head out of the castle. "Timmy was cranky," she interrupts.

Kat nods in agreement. "I was," she confirms. "But I love bouncy castles."

"We're just letting him tire himself out," Rosa adds.

"Okay, everybody out!" Holt leans down to turn the machine off, causing the castle to immediately start to deflate.

Kat's eyes widen as she's knocked down on top of Rosa and struggles to roll off her due to being crushed by the castle. "Get off me, Sarge," Rosa groans frustratedly.

"I'm trying!" Katherine replies loudly.

"Okay, it's just kinda difficult," Terry tells their captain, trying to shuffle his way over to the entrance. "Because of the deflating."

Kat yelps when Amy falls onto her after losing her footing. "I'm so sorry!" Amy apologises instantly. "I'm so sorry!"

"Out! Now!"

"We're trying!" Kat exclaims irritably.

"Turn on the pump," Amy yells. She grips onto her best friend's hand as the castle refuses to let her move. "I'm very claustrophobic!"

It took them all ten minutes to get out of the deflated castle. Holt had argued that those ten minutes never would have been wasted if they had never brought out the castle in the first place. Kat would then argue for him to shut up, but of course she never really said that out loud. She would never say that out loud.

With her muscles aching from being crushed by a giant castle as well as Amy and Rosa, Kat beelines to the kitchen for a much-needed cup of coffee. The mountain of paperwork sitting on her desk was calling to be tended to. At least she knew what the rest of her afternoon was looking like.

She had never realised just exactly how different Terry's job was to theirs until she was placed into his shoes herself.

The paperwork was tenfold, of course, but they were also meant to oversee all the detectives in the squad. That meant approving various ideas they would be presented with—including declining the more ridiculous ones from Jake—, assigning each of them to cases, dealing with complaints, overseeing reports and crime scenes, and, Kat's favourite, lots and lots of paperwork.

She understands why Terry had been so relieved upon hearing that she would stay managing the squad with him. Halving his responsibilities has visibly made his life a lot easier.

Her eyes just about turn into hearts as she inhales the bitter smell of the coffee. "Come to mama," she murmurs happily. As she takes a long sip, she turns to her sister when noticing her walk over. "Hey, what's—" Her brows crease at what Gina is wearing. "What the fuck is that?"

"As everyone knows, my spirit animal is nature's greatest predator, the wolf." Gina sighs. "But I committed a horrible sexual blunder and I'm no longer wolf-worthy."

Kat rolls her eyes in amusement. "Oh, come on, it can't be that bad." However, when she realises that her sister has no intention whatsoever of saying anything on the matter, she sighs. "Okay, well, what is that thing?"

"My new spirit animal," Gina says, gesturing a hand down to her sweater. "The naked mole rat."

"It's gorgeous," she hums.

"Spare the sarcasm. It's God's disgusting mistake."

"Yeah, that sounds better."

Gina's eyes narrow. "Hey!" Kat's hand, halfway in the air, freezes. "Only I get to talk about my spirit animal that way. You don't get to say that, Kat. Keep the naked mole rat's name out of your hot lips."

Katherine blinks. "Okay..." She offers the coffee to her sister, who happily takes a sip. "So, who did you sleep with?"

Almost instantaneously, she retorts, "Not telling."

"Come on, who is it?"

"Your mom." Gina's eyes widen and she places a hand over her mouth as Kat snickers. "Our mom," she whispers in horror. She throws her arms up in frustration as she storms off. "Dear God, what have I done!"

Kat shakes her head with a loud laugh. But her peace and quiet is short-lived. "Linetti," Terry calls out.

He points to Holt's office, and she grimaces. "Oh, man, here we go..."

After closing the door behind her, she and Terry stand before Holt's desk as he looks between them with narrowed eyes. "Neither of you are going to apologise?" he asks.

"No," Terry denies. "We were trying to lighten the mood."

"The squad's been really stressed ever since these drills started," Kat explains. "Plus, you did order me to act like a seven-year-old boy. And... well, sir, seven-year-old boys like bouncy castles. They like to have fun."

Captain Holt nods. "That's true," he acknowledges. "When I was seven, I used to sneak into my father's office to see his collection of antique globes."

"Okay, so we might have different definitions of what fun means."

"Sir, it's hard to motivate the squad when we don't even know why we're doing these drills," Terry says, reiterating his point from earlier in the day.

He gestures for them to sit in the chairs before his desk. "This hasn't been announced yet, but... there's going to be a new commissioner of the NYPD. We're all gonna be under a microscope, and I wanted us to be prepared for anything."

"You should have just told us that, sir," Katherine says with a frown.

"I was trying to shield you," Holt counters. His eyes flick between the two sergeants as he asks, "Do you know how much stress I've been under lately? My husband says he hasn't seen me smile in weeks."

Terry's eyebrows draw together. "How much did you smile before that?"

"Constantly," Raymond answers. Kat purses her lips. "I don't know what's going on down at Police Headquarters," he admits. "And no one will tell me anything."

She crosses her arms over her jacket, cocking her head to the side. "So, essentially, you're saying that not knowing what your bosses are up to is driving you just a tad crazy," she concludes. Terry glances to her with a small smile.

"You've used my logic against me. Well played, Timmy. Well played."

"Thank you, sir."

"Look at that," Holt says. "You helped me find my smile." Kat grins brightly as she watches his lips twitch in the smallest movement, so subtle that she could have hallucinated it happening.

Terry looks between them both in confusion, not understanding why Kat is now beaming ear to ear nor why Holt had said he was smiling, because to him he looks completely the same as he had been a few moments prior. "Terry doesn't know what's going on..."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

The welcome back party for Jake had been organised yesterday, the second they had received word that he was going to be returning to the Nine-Nine. Naturally, it had to be held at Shaw's. "Surprise," they cheer as he walks into the bar.

"No way! I am floored by this!" Jake glances back to the man behind him. "Charles, you tricked me!"

"Boyle told you, didn't he?"

"Without any prompting."

"Yeah, that tracks."

"Welcome to your party," Raymond greets. They all raise their drinks and another few cheers spread throughout the group. "Does anyone have a few words they'd like to say?"

"Bup-bup," Jake interjects quickly. "No one say anything." He points to the captain with a grin. "I want him to say stuff. Speech for Jake. Go."

"Very well. Your six-month absence was noted. Drinks are on me. There's a two-drink maximum per person. It is non-transferable. Your guests will pay their own tab. Valid parking is not included. Tomorrow's briefing will be fifteen minutes earlier than usual. And..." He turns to the detective beside him. "I'm very proud of you, Peralta. We missed you."

Jake smiles slightly. "Aw, you ruined it."

"To Jake!"

Everyone raises their glasses again. "To Jake," they chorus.

Rosa and Kat sip their beers as they watch Gina sit with Hitchcock and Scully from across the bar. "Why the hell is she with them?" Rosa asks in confusion.

Kat's eyes squint as she watches her sister. "I have no idea," she admits. "And it's not the first time today I've seen her with them." She holds up a finger as she places her empty bottle down. "But she did say she committed a horrible sexual blunder, so maybe she's placing herself with the more... what's the word...?"

"Disgusting people?" Rosa offers.

"Perfect, that's it. But I have no idea who she slept with; she won't tell me."

Rosa's lips curl into a smirk as she turns to the woman beside her. "I guess we'll have to find out," she declares.

Kat grins. "Now that sounds like fun," she states.

After draining the rest of her drink, Rosa taps her hands on the table as she stands up. "Okay," she says, briefly looking to her phone for the time. "It's seven-thirty, let's go."

But just as they're about to leave, Jake sprints over to them to stop them in their tracks. In the process, he also trips over a chair. "Son of a bitch," he hisses in pain.

"What's up?" Kat asks with an amused smile.

"My pain is not for your entertainment," he deadpans with narrowed eyes.

"I say otherwise," Rosa counters.

Jake rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Why are you leaving? The party's just getting started!"

"I have a sixteen-year-old teenager at home," Katherine reminds him. "Who would love to see you for the first time in half a year, by the way." He smiles brightly at the thought of getting to see his goddaughter. "So, I'm going home to have dinner with her before she locks me out of her room."

His eyes squint as he turns to Rosa. "What about you?" he asks.

"I'm going with her," she replies simply.

Jake's eyes widen comically as he spins to Kat. She rolls her eyes at his silent question. "Tish loves her," she explains, correcting him that she is not going home with Rosa in the way he thinks (hopes) she is. "Possibly more than me."

Rosa shrugs. "What can I say, I'm a people person."

Kat and Jake stare at her as she walks off. "She's joking," he laughs. "Right?"

"I'm afraid she isn't."

"Wow. God, I have missed you all so much."