𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧 | 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻

THANKSGIVING WAS ONE OF THE many times throughout the year where the Linettis gathered for the night to celebrate the holiday together. Of course, neither of the sperm donators for Darlene's children ever showed up (not that any of them wanted that to happen), so it was simply just the three women. And they loved it. Gina and Kat loved their mother almost as much as they loved each other. Occasionally, and this is where the family tree begins to get complicated, Darlene's third, estranged, son Richard would bring his wife and son over to join in the festivities.

This year was going to be Kat, her sister, and her mother like usual, but Amy had suggested a few weeks ago that she would hold a dinner for the squad, so they accepted. Kat believes that tonight is going to go either two ways: it could be an utter disaster where chaos reigns unhinged throughout Amy Santiago's home, or it would go completely to plan. She thinks that the first option is much, much more likely.

But first, they have to get through the day to be able to raise a glass of wine and cut into a turkey.

Amy takes the box of her allergy medication from her best friend with a small smile. "Thanks," she says, reaching over to scratch behind Bear's ears.

"No, thank you," Kat counters. "Seriously, thanks for trying to manage it all for him." She smiles and glances over to her dog sitting in the chair beside Amy. "And he loves you for it, too." With his tongue lolled out of his mouth, Bear blinks at his owner.

Amy chuckles and sighs. "I just wish I wasn't even allergic in the first place."

Jake looks up from his computer and shrugs. "Sucks to be you," he states. She rolls her eyes. He then points into the briefing room that displays the scoreboard for the bet; he's currently three arrests in front. "No, seriously, it sucks to be you."

Rosa whistles and Bear leaps off the chair to bound over to her. Kat grins as she watches her dog settle by Diaz's feet.

Boyle strolls into the bullpen with an infectious smile, carrying a tray of takeaway coffees. "Happy Turkey Day," he calls out to the room excitedly.

Everyone looks down to the piece of papers in their hands. "Yes!" Jake exclaims. He leans over and high-fives with Kat. "Right out of the gate!"

"What?" Charles questions in confusion. He notices most of them all marking something down. "What's going on?"

Kat holds up the sheet to show him. "We're playing Boyle Bingo," she responds. "It's the Thanksgiving edition!"

"Everyone filled out their cards with possible Charles-related scenarios," Amy explains. "First to bingo gets a hundred bucks!"

"Jake and I had 'Boyle calls it Turkey Day' in the centre square," Kat adds with a smile.

Charles strides over to Terry and snatches the sheet off from his clipboard. "'Boyle explains they ate lobsters at the first Thanksgiving.'" His eyes light up. "They did," he confirms. "Back in that time, they called lobsters 'ocean bugs,' and... I'll just mark it off for you."

"I think I got the winning card here," Jake announces confidently. "'Boyle tells us that he played Pocahontas in his third-grade play.'"

Charles sighs as he passes Terry's pen back. "All the girls were too big."

Kat clears her throat. "I've got 'Boyle falls on the floor,'" she states.

He points at her with narrowed eyes. "Now I know you're expecting me to fall, I'll just not fall!" he says smugly.

"This is a fun one." Gina smiles as she glances down to her card. "'Boyle says, gobble, gobble, gobble.'" The smile twists into a smirk as she looks up to Charles expectantly.

He takes a step toward her. "Well, now that I also know you want me to say that, I'll just say it with two gobbles." Kat raises her brows. "Gobble, gobble..." Charles grimaces as he feels them all stare at him expectantly. "Gobble! God, it just sounds right that way. Ugh, I don't like this game."

Bear barks.

Charles's eyes widen. "Does anyone have 'Bear protests to Boyle Bingo'?"

"Nope," Rosa responds with a laugh. She grabs her pen to mark off another square. "But we do have 'Boyle objects to Boyle Bingo.'"

"Come on, guys."

Terry grins. "Boyle says, 'Come on, guys.' That's two for Terry!"

Charles slowly walks backward to his desk. "Well, guess what. I can spoil your little game by sitting over here quietly all day and doing nothing." As he attempts to sit down in his chair, he misses by miles, instead landing on the ground with a thud. "Oh, ah!"

In any other case, Kat would be concerned. She's too proud she managed to foresee this happening. "'Boyle falls on the floor!'" she shouts.

Jake nods to her. "Anybody else have 'Boyle falls on the floor'?" He looks around to see the squad all shaking their heads. "No one?"

"This shouldn't be too much of a stretch, but I've got, 'Boyle wears neon pink underwear.'"

Charles's eyes widen once more at Gina's statement, and he beams as he scrambles up from the floor. "I ran out yesterday," he replies smugly. "So that's a victory! That's a victory for Boyle! Boom!"

The group erupt into cheers and point to him as they yell, "Boyle says, 'Boom!'"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

It's three o'clock in the afternoon when Tisha, Kat's fifteen-year-old neighbour, comes up to the precinct to collect Bear. She smiles as she hears the elevator ding and watches the teenager skip out and leap over the gate instead of walking through it like any normal person. "Kat," Tisha calls out with a grin. "Guess what I stole on my way here!"

The entire room stops moving to stare at her.

Kat's eyes widen and she quickly hurries over to the girl. "Okay, nothing to see here," she calls out dismissively. Hesitantly, her colleagues resume working. She rolls her eyes and links her arm through Tisha's to drag her into the break room. "Firstly, are you an idiot?"

Tisha drops down onto the couch but immediately scrunches her nose up. "It smells like butts," she mutters.

"Don't avoid the question."

She sighs. "No, I'm not an idiot."

"Really?" Kat retorts in amusement. "Because, and correct me if I heard this wrong, you just announced to an entire police precinct that you stole something."

Tisha winces and crosses her arms. "Okay, technically it's not stealing," she says quietly. She purses her lips and reluctantly meets the blonde's eyes. "I just... temporarily borrowed some pizza."

Kat frowns as she takes the spot beside the girl. "Hey, why are you stealing food?" she asks softly. Tisha looks down, making a pointed effort to avoid any eye contact. "Kiddo, if you need money, ask me for some money."

"I don't wanna rob you," she whispers. She scuffs the bottom of her sneaker on the ground. Tisha clears her throat. "Plus, you aren't my mom."

"You're right, I'm not. But you'd just be temporarily borrowing it." Tisha's lips curl into a small smile. Kat's brows furrow as she studies her. "Where's your dad? Can't he give you some?"

Tisha leaps off the couch and wanders over to the counter to pour herself a cup of water. "So, where's the little monster?"

A frown etches itself into Kat's face once more at how she had managed to swiftly change the topic of conversation. "He's on the balcony playing with Charles," she smiles. Tisha turns around to look at her and sips out of the plastic cup. "I'll be back around nine tonight, that okay?"

The young girl nods. "Yep, all good! We'll just walk back and watch movies."

"Oh yeah, I found his new favourite," Kat informs her. Tisha waves a hand for her to expand. "It's Scooby Doo."

Tisha grins. "This is perfect," she states happily. "I'll let you get back to work- Oh, wait, any new grisly murders for me?" The detective stares at her. "Yep, right, not allowed to tell me..."

Kat sighs and wraps an arm around Tisha's shoulder as they walk back out into the bullpen. She leans closer to the girl's ear to whisper, "There was one yesterday where blood covered the entire apartment."

Tisha's eyes widen in disbelief as she tilts her head up to look at the older woman. "Woah," she whispers in awe. "Really?"

"Nope, it was an art mural gone wrong." Kat laughs at the scowl now on the teen's face. However, as she goes to hug Tisha goodbye, she stills. Kat's gaze locks onto a dark marking imprinted on the side of Tisha's neck. A bruise. Then she finds another, just below her collarbone. "Hey, kid, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, wassup?"

"What happened to your neck?" Kat questions carefully.

Tisha smiles. "Oh, I fell asleep on one of Bear's toys the other day, it's nothing."

Kat nods and smiles once more, but she takes note of how the girl's reaction had been forced. It's enough to worry her, but she doesn't want to press things too far that would end up pushing Tisha away from her. Kat wants to have a relationship with her where Tisha feels comfortable and safe enough to tell her things on her own merit. But if things escalate, things that she suspects might be happening inside the confines of Tisha's home, as an officer of the law and someone who simply cares, Kat would end up taking things into her own hands.

As soon as Tisha and Bear leave the floor, Kat walks over to Rosa and takes the chair beside the desk. "Cute kid," Rosa tells her with a small smile.

"Yeah," Kat nods. But her smile is a little more forced.

Rosa instantly notices and stops her work. "What's wrong?"

"I need you to help me look into someone," she replies. With her brows furrowed, Rosa nods. "Name's Nathan Alvarez. I just need to know if he's got any priors or a record at all."

Rosa connects the dots in her head and quickly nods. "Yeah, course," she says softly. "I'll let you know."

"Check it out, chair jockeys!" Jake calls out proudly. He walks into the room with a brick of cocaine in his hand. "While you were busy tickling the ivories on your computers, I was doing a bust. Coah-caine!"

"That's a sweet load," Kat praises.

"It is indeed." Jake grins. He then hands the drugs to the uniformed officer behind him. "Thanks, Lucius." He spreads his arms as he turns back to the group. "He ran, I pursued. Whole thing turned into an awesome car chase."

Rosa squints her eyes at the man. "Tell us what really happened," she presses.

Jack shifts back and forth on his heels. "What?" he retorts with a nervous laugh. "That's what really happened!" He groans under Rosa's glare. "Okay, fine... He... might've gotten stuck in a traffic jam."

Gina wanders over to Kat and Rosa and giggles as the blonde clicks her tongue. "There it is," Kat concludes.

"Well, at least you're done early so you have time to go home and change for my Thanksgiving dinner," Amy tells him with a smile.

Jake scoffs with incredulity. "Why do we have to dress up for Thanksgiving?" Gina and Kat share a look, both knowing why he no longer celebrates the holiday. "I don't even celebrate that stuff! The whole holiday is based on overeating. We should be wearing velvet track suits and diapers."

"The track suits isn't a bad idea," Katherine agrees.

Jake waves a hand to her. "Thank you!"

Amy sighs. "Jacket and tie," she states firmly. She gestures to Diaz. "Rosa's even wearing her formal leather jacket.

"It's the one without any blood on it," Kat says. Rosa smiles slightly.

Jake points over to them with a grin and Amy sighs once more. "You're gonna dress up, and you're gonna give a toast about what you're thankful for." She smiles sweetly at him as she returns to her paperwork. "Start preparing."

He waves a hand at her. "Oh, I prefer not to prepare for my toasts."

"That's true," Kat confirms. Jake glances to her as she adds, "Improvisation all the way, Peralta style."

A beaming smile graces his face. "You know me so well. I just wing 'em like scat jazz." The Linetti siblings share a look of amusement as he then begins scatting terribly.

"Are we singing?" Scully questions the squad.

Jake's eyes widen in alarm. "No, no, no-"

Kat winces once the detective bursts into opera singing. "Well, this is great," she mumbles. Gina drops her forehead onto her sister's shoulder, and Rosa sighs in annoyance.

Whilst Scully continues his opera, Jake leans forward to Amy as he loudly whispers, "I'm not dressing up for your party."

"I need a break," Kat announces, covering her ears as she walks past Scully who has somehow increased the volume of his voice. By the time she pours herself a cup of coffee, he has finally stopped singing. Kat smiles at Jake's Boyle Bingo card stuck to the fridge with magnets so that everyone can see he's winning so far. Typical.

As she wanders back over to her desk, she watches Amy come out of Holt's office trying to hold in her excitement. Once Amy's out of sight from Holt, she jumps up and down and quietly squeals. "Why so excited?" Rosa asks, her arms folded over her chest.

Now curious, Kat redirects her path back over to Rosa's desk where she and Gina sit. "Did you make the cover of Hair Pulled Back magazine?" Gina adds, feigning excitement. Whilst Rosa smiles, Kat rolls her eyes.

"The captain is coming to my party," Amy gushes to them in disbelief. "I'm gonna give a toast, tell him how thankful I am to have him in the precinct, and officially ask him to be my mentor."

"Maybe first just thank him for coming to the party," Kat suggests with a smile.

Meanwhile, Gina has latched on the ulterior motive Amy had held all along whilst organising the party. "Wait, are you only hosting dinner because you want to suck up to Holt?" Amy clasps her hands behind her back and looks away. "Not cool. This was supposed to be about friendship."

Kat snorts. She raises a hand in apology when Gina turns to her. Amy places a hand on her hip and sighs. "You said you were only coming to see if my apartment was the reason I was single, or if it was my personality, like you suspected," she says.

"Yeah, but that was before I knew I could get up on this high horse," Gina retorts. She raises her hands like she's clasping reins. "Love the view up here! Clip clop, clip clop, clip clop." Kat tries to hide her laughter as her sister trots away.

"Oi, Kat!" Jake yells across the bullpen. She raises her head to look at him. "Get over here!"

She scoffs and slowly walks over to their desks. "What?"

He grins as he stops his work on his computer. "I want you to hook me up with Tisha," he states. But when his best friend stares at him in horror, his eyes widen in panic. "No! No, no, no, no. Not like that. I mean, like, she seems like a mini me."

Kat's brows raise in amusement and she wheels her chair around to him. "She's a bit like you," she agrees.

"I mean, she literally walked into here announcing that she'd stolen something." Jake grins. "That's something I would've done."

"No, that's something you would do," she corrects. He eventually shrugs in agreement. "She actually really wants to meet you, so we can have a Taylor Swift night or something."

"Wait..." He blinks slowly as he wraps his head around the newfound information. "She knows about me?"

"Well, she knows about all of you. But yeah, I've told her a bunch of stories. Like when you were chasing that guy through the supermarket the other week and you tripped over all those cans that had fallen over. Remember that? You faceplanted onto the ground. She loves that story."

"I hate you," he deadpans.

"Hate you more." They both smile. "So," Kat begins. "Are you actually gonna come tonight?"

Jake groans in frustration and rubs his temple with the palm of his hand. "I don't want to," he answers honestly. "But I guess I don't have a choice."

"True. But I have a feeling you'll get yourself out of it."

He gasps. "What? Me?" He grins once more at her expectant look. "Yeah, okay, Holt promised that if anything opens up, he'll give it to me."

Katherine nods in approval. She understands why he's trying to get out of the celebration. "Well, that definitely trumps eating mayo nut spoonsies." She grimaces at the memory years ago where Jake had forced one of the spoons into her mouth. It remains one of the worst things she has ever eaten. Gina would dare say it's worse than Flatbush Diner's pie.

Jake points a finger at her accusingly. "Mayo nut spoonsies are my entire life!" he exclaims passionately.

"They're your entire life once a year."

"True that."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Kat had arrived at Amy's fifteen minutes before everyone else to help her best friend set up the table for the celebration dinner. Katherine Linetti hates dresses. Unless it's an absolute necessity, she would choose absolutely anything but. So she had opted for a pair of jeans and a deep red camisole. Amy catches her fixing her hair in the mirror and she smiles. "You look beautiful," she calls out.

Kat glances over to her and gives her a small smile. "Thanks. You do, too."

A little while later, the squad have arrived, and each made themselves comfortable with a glass of wine. Gina and Rosa had quickly made use of the time to look around the apartment. "Oh, my God, Amy, that's so cool that you still live with your grandmother," Gina comments as she holds up a small porcelain statue.

"I live alone. This is my stuff, I like quilts," Amy defends herself.

"Stop," Gina protests dramatically. "Each sentence is getting sadder." She yelps when Kat throws a cushion toward her. "Dude!"

Rosa smiles slightly at them. "It looks like you live on the set of Murder, She Wrote," she adds.

Kat rolls her eyes at them. "Okay, drink your wine," she orders. Rosa's lips curl upward as she raises her glass.

Jake walks out of the bathroom and nods to himself at the interior of the apartment. "Well, I gotta say, it's not as bad as I thought it would be," he declares after taking a sip of his beer.

"'Well, I gotta say, it's not as bad as I thought it would be,' we just found the title of Jake Peralta's sex tape," Kat exclaims. Rosa loudly whistles and Amy chuckles.

But Jake can't find himself to be anything but proud. "That it is," he confirms salaciously. "The football game's not on, so I can still watch it later at home. And it's kind of cool to visit a time before electricity was invented!" He beams brightly at the glare Amy sends to him.

"I have to practise my toast," she mutters irritably.

Jake shakes his head at the stack of papers she picks up. "God, how long is that?" he asks incredulously.

"Eight pages," Amy says.

"Single-spaced?" he guesses.

"Double-sided."

He grins. "Santiago style."

Kat squints her eyes as one of the most beautiful smiles appears on Amy's face. She glances to Jake, back to Amy, then to Jake again, and back to Amy. "Well, this is interesting," she mumbles to herself.

Rosa moves to stand next to her. "What's interesting?"

"Oh, nothing," Kat dismisses. "So, did you find anything?"

Her brows draw together in confusion for a second, then she understands what the blonde is asking. "Oh, yeah, right. Nada."

Kat sighs and takes a long sip of her wine. "Yeah, me too," she responds.

Rosa frowns at her. "You really think he's a bad dude?"

"I don't know," Katherine answers honestly. "I wanna keep an eye on it, though."

"You mean, Tisha," she presumes. Kat hums in confirmation. Rosa nods her head in thought, and after a moment of silence, she says, "I'll keep tabs."

Kat's eyes widen slightly as she glances to her. "You'll help?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Rosa's jaw clenches ever so slightly. "'Cause I'm not a fan of people hurting girls."

Terry groans in frustration from his seat at the dining table. "Hey, excuse me," he interrupts impatiently. "Can we please eat? My body is starting to digest itself. Terry needs nutrients!"

However, Amy is adamant that the celebrations be put on hold until Holt arrives. "No eating until the captain gets here, okay?" she says sternly. Gina throws her head back in annoyance. "Sorry."

"Don't apologise," Rosa interjects. Amy turns around to her. "I'd rather spend Thanksgiving at your house than with my sister."

"Why not your sister?" Kat questions curiously.

Rosa scowls. "There's too much laughter and smiling." Kat nods in understanding. "It's so pleasant and boring. But Holt at your house," she nods to the squad spread out across the room, "surrounded by these idiots? Guaranteed train wreck." She grins. "Thanks for the invite."

As soon as the doorbell rings, Amy spins around and inhales a deep breath. "He's here! Okay, he's here. Everybody, be cool." She shakes her head as she notices something major. "Hitchcock, why do you have your shirt off?"

Hitchcock points to his shirt strewn on the couch beside him. "Can't spill food on your shirt if you're not wearing one," he replies proudly.

Kat grimaces. "I hate that he's right," she mutters. Rosa raises her wine glass up to her mouth to muffle her laughter.

Amy shakes her head in disapproval as she hurries to answer the door. "Captain Holt!" she greets with a bright smile.

"Happy Thanksgiving," he nods to her as he steps inside. "Your apartment was very easy to locate."

"Thank you so much," Amy beams. "You look beautiful." She grimaces as soon as she says the words, immediately regretting them. Kat bites onto her lip to stifle her chuckle.

"Weirdest conversation ever," Jake pipes up. He points between them with a grin. "Nice work, you two."

Now that the entire party has arrived, Terry impatiently orders them all to sit down in their assigned chairs at the decorated table. Kat laughs at how his narrowed eyes stare expectantly at his empty plate as Amy gathers all the food. Gina sits beside her sister and brings out the bottle of white wine she had stolen from the kitchen. "Here," she says. "I think we'll be needing this." Kat, in the middle of Gina and Jake, eagerly grabs the bottle and quickly pours almost an entire glass.

Sat directly opposite to Katherine, Rosa's eyebrows raise. "Woah."

Kat sighs as she meets the woman's eyes. "Look, I love Amy, but her cooking sucks," she admits with a small grimace.

"Amen," Jake agrees. Gina raises her glass to them.

Amy stands at the head of the table and smiles at them all. "Before we eat, I'd like everyone to go around and say what they're thankful for this year."

A sigh leaves Jake's lips. "Fine, I'll go first," he concedes willingly. Gina and Kat share an amused glance with each other. "I am thankful that Thanksgiving only comes once a year. People stuff themselves, and then at midnight, they run to appliance stores and trample each other to death."

"That's pretty accurate," Kat whispers. Gina brings her hand up to her mouth to quieten her snickers.

"It's a garbage holiday," Jake continues. He fakes a sniffle to add dramatics, which does nothing because he hasn't stopped grinning the entire time. "I'm sorry, I just get emotional when I talk about how bogus Thanksgiving is." Katherine finally laughs when his voice cracks.

"I'll just go," Amy states, swapping her glass for her speech. "I actually prepared a little something."

"You did?"

She completely ignores Jake. "When I was a little girl, playing cops and-"

Holt's phone rings. Kat is present for the moment she watches Amy's heart plummet into her stomach, and she winces, knowing how important this is for her. "Excuse me," Holt apologises as he stands up. "Continue, Santiago."

"Or I could wait-"

"No waiting," Terry interrupts. Amy's eyes widen slightly. "Just toasting. I want you to toast. Now I want to eat toast. Give me some toast!" 

"Okay, I'll be right there," Holt says into his phone. He walks back over to the table as he announces, "I have to head back to the precinct." Kat meets Jake's already widened eyes, and she shakes her head with a knowing smile. And there's his ticket out of here.

"No," Amy protests. "Why?"

The captain directs his gaze onto her. "Someone stole ten-thousand dollars from the evidence lockup," he explains.

Jake's eyes widen even further. "Yes!" he exclaims. "Oh, awesome!"

"Why is that awesome?" Holt asks him. Amy scowls at the detective.

"It's a case," Jake reminds the captain eagerly. "You said I could hop on any case that came up. It's a Thanksgiving miracle!" He grabs his jacket and places kisses on the top of Gina and Kat's heads. "Have fun, you guys," he calls out, before bolting out of the apartment as quickly as he can. "Let's roll!"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Over an hour had passed since the departure of Jake and Holt. The candles had been lit on the table and lamps had been turned on to provide a warm, inviting atmosphere in the dining room. Even though a good chunk of time had gone, Amy had been adamant on not eating anything, as if the two missing would return at any given moment. "Santiago, can we please, please just eat?" Terry just about begs. Kat's eyes widen as she watches him begin to bend the knife in his hand just by how tight he's gripping it.

Amy sighs as she momentarily stops her pacing. "What if Captain Holt and Jake are coming back?" she points out.

"Hang on," Charles says. "I have a toast." He stand ups and surveys the group as he raises his glass. "I am thankful to have someone in my life who gives me a reason to get out of bed every morning, and I hope that my relationship with this person will only grow more intimate."

Even though she knows exactly who this is about, Gina arches a brow to him as she asks, "Who are you talking about?" 

Charles swallows and hesitates for a second. "Um, Hitchcock." Everyone, including Hitchcock, looks at him strangely.

Kat's lips move upward. "Hitchcock?" she repeats.

"Okay, enough is enough," Terry decides. He scoops a helping of mashed potatoes on his plate, but as soon as he tastes a bite, he almost immediately spits it out. He turns to Amy with his face scrunched up in disgust. "What's in these?"

She shrugs. "Potatoes, butter, a little milk. Oh, and I ran out of salt so I used baking soda."

"Why wouldn't you?" Terry asks sarcastically. "They're both white powders. Of course they're interchangeable!"

Amy shrugs once more. "Yeah."

Kat stares at the woman in disbelief. "Wow," she utters. "Wow." She sculls the rest of wine. She guesses she's going to need a lot more if the rest of the food is like the potatoes.

And it is. But nobody tells Amy how they really feel about her food. They know how much time and effort she had put into the dinner, and nobody, including Rosa and Gina, have the heart to tell her that they can't stomach it. So, one by one, they had snuck out their plates of food to discard into the bathroom when Amy wasn't watching.

Of course, Amy is still stuck in the illusion that they had all happily eaten. "Anyone want seconds?" she asks with a smile. 

"Can't," Terry denies with a shake of his head. "I'm stuffed."

Katherine feels awful lying. Although, before she can contemplate telling Amy the truth, Scully walks out the bathroom with a grimace. "Amy, the toilet's overflowing," he calls out.

"What?" she exclaims. Her eyes widen at the man standing in a puddle of water in the hallway. "Ew! Scully, what did you do?"

"And the night gets worse-better," Rosa cheers. She clinks her glass against Gina's.

"I didn't do it," Scully says. "Although I understand why you'd suspect me."

Amy turns back to the table with a clenched jaw. "Well, then who clogged it?"

Kat sighs. "I guess the truth's gonna hurt," she mutters. She clears her throat. "Okay, don't freak out when I say this, but... none of us ate anything."

Amy's lips part open as she quietly scoffs. "So, nothing?" she remarks in disbelief. "Terry, you said you ate the whole turkey."

"Toilet. I ate one string bean," Terry admits. He grimaces at the aftertaste in his mouth that remains from the single bite. "It tasted like fish vomit. That was it for me."

"But I'm a good cook," Amy protests with furrowed brows. "You all ate those brownies I brought in last week!"

Gina purses her lips. "I thought they were erasers..."

"Charles said he loved them!"

"I'm a textbook people-pleaser," Charles explains to her. "I have a serious problem." He smiles as he gestures to the half-empty plates of food, trying to lift the mood back up. "This was great, though! You must be so proud."

Amy closes her eyes for a second. "Yeah, Thanksgiving's over," she declares quietly. "Everybody go home. We're just... We're done hanging out together."

Kat immediately beelines over to her best friend and takes her hand to lead her into the kitchen. "Hey, I'm sorry," she says softly. "I guess we just thought that lying would be better 'cause we know how hard you worked. But it obviously made things worse..."

Amy sighs and places her hand on Kat's upper arm for a brief second. "It's okay. Good intentions." She looks out to the table to see everyone gathering their belongings. "Bad outcome."

"How about we have a night together, just us?" Kat suggests gently. Another smile, a genuine smile, appears on Amy's face. "We can drink the rest of the wine and order some pizza that will be ridiculously overpriced and take over an hour to get here."

"No, no," Charles interrupts them, having heard majority of the conversation. The pair look over to him and he smiles. "I'm not done hanging out. Let's go to the bar! They serve food there. That's a great idea!"

Amy and Kat share a look and they both shrug in agreement. "Sleepover with wine afterwards?" the former suggests.

Kat links their arms together and grins. "Deal."

"Oh, look at that!" Rosa grabs her bingo card and unfolds it to see the square. "'Boyle saves Thanksgiving.'"

Charles's eyes widen as he tries to get a look at the piece of paper. "Does it really say that?"

"No," she responds with a smirk. "But it does say 'Boyle believes obvious lie.'" She smiles slightly when she hears Kat bark a laugh.

"Damn it," Charles mutters in frustration.

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Katherine downs her shot of tequila at the bar and carries the extra two drinks over to the table that Amy has taken. She slides the glass of whiskey over to the woman and smiles. "This isn't too bad," she says.

Amy smiles and takes a sip of the spirit. "Yeah, not too bad." She looks down to stare into the amber liquid and Kat frowns. "Sorry, I'm just bummed I didn't get to do the toast."

"Hey, rough night?" Gina takes the empty seat beside her sister, then steals Kat's margarita to take a sip for herself.

Amy sighs, her shoulders slumping in disappointment as she looks up to her. "Yeah, it certainly hasn't gone according to plan."

"Oh, no... Oh, Amy I was ordering a drink called a Rough Night," Gina corrects in amusement. She nods over to one of the bartenders standing behind them. "It's tequila with a nicotine patch."

"That sounds very appealing," Kat muses.

With a glass of scotch in hand, Rosa takes the final seat beside Kat and nods to her when they briefly lock eyes. Amy turns in her seat to look at Rosa as she asks, "How do I get Holt to pay attention to me?"

Kat kisses her teeth. "I think you might need to kill Peralta." Gina snickers.

Amy nods her head slightly as she acknowledges the idea. "That's not bad," she admits. "Especially considering how much time Holt spends on him. Maybe I should start screwing up like Jake does."

"Oh, consider me intrigued," Gina says with a smile. She folds her arms on the table and leans closer to Amy.

"I can act out, too, you know," Amy tells them confidently.

"Please do," Rosa encourages.

Amy's eyes squint slightly at her. "Okay. Watch this." Kat's eyes widen as she watches her friend down the rest of her drink then blindly chuck the glass back over her shoulder. Not even seconds later, the glass shelves holding countless bottles of alcohol shatters. The entire bar stops talking to look at the destruction.

Hank, the owner of the bar, stares at the squad with anger. "Out," he demands. "All of you."

Terry holds the empty container of pretzels as he protests, "But the cook is coming back!"

"Out!"

"Fine!" Terry shouts. "But I'm taking these olives."

Charles gives Hank an apologetic smile and places a wad of cash on the bar. "Sorry," he says. "Happy Turkey Day."

Kat sighs and finishes her cocktail as she grabs onto her jacket. "This was an epic fail," she concludes. As they walk out of the bar, she wraps an arm around Amy's shoulders. "But you, my love, were incredible."

Gina grins. "Yeah, I gotta say, it might be the coolest thing you've ever done."

Amy's eyes widen as she glances to the older sister. "So, you respect me now?"

She laughs. "No, no." Gina laughs again. "Not in the slightest. But you just started the journey for that to eventually, possibly, maybe, happen."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

They collectively agreed to return to the precinct. It was the only place that would have food. Well, so they thought. Kat watches Charles rifle through the cabinets in the kitchen to try and find something to feed his squad. "There's nothing here," he mutters with a frown.

Kat kicks her feet up onto the table. "I mean, we could rob the vending machine," she suggests.

Sitting beside her, Rosa nods. "Yeah, I can smash it with my axe," she adds with a deadpanned expression. Kat turns to stare at her for a few seconds.

Without turning around, Charles points back to them. "That's a good plan B," he agrees. 

"Don't worry, guys," Terry announces with excitement. He dumps a large cardboard box on the table that is filled to the brim with packaging material. "I found food!"

Rosa arches a brow as he begins stuffing the packing peanuts into his mouth. "Are you eating packing peanuts?" she asks. Terry glances her way but is too preoccupied by chewing to answer.

Scully sighs as he stands up at his desk. "Okay, I do keep a secret stash of food in the office," he informs the group reluctantly.

Kat grins. "Oh, he's done it now." Gina looks up from her phone and giggles.

"I knew it!" Terry yells. "Where?" He pins Scully down with a glare. "Where?"

Barely a minute later, Charles is up on Terry's shoulders as the squad gathers around one of the ceiling tiles. "Sarge, am I too heavy?" Charles questions him.

"No." Terry's glare returns. "Where is it?" he snaps.

"There," Scully points upward. "The one with the water stain."

"There's a lot of food up there?"

"Sarge, any food is a lot of food when you don't have any food," Kat points out.

"It's a smorgasbord," Scully confirms with a smile.

Charles's tongue pokes out in between his teeth as he carefully removes the ceiling tile, sending packages of food tumbling down to the ground. But when everyone notices that the food has been eaten by the rats now crawling around, they scream in horror. Gina grabs onto her sister as she shrieks, pulling herself and Kat up onto the table. 

Rosa smiles at the chaos erupting around her.

Scully winces as he observes the mess. "I think the rats got into it," he says.

One of Terry's eyes twitches as he takes a small step toward him. "You think?"

"This is the greatest thing that's ever happened," Rosa states happily.

"Okay, it's over," Amy calls out. "Thanksgiving time of death, now."

Charles's eyes widen and he points down to her, still perched on Terry's shoulders. "No," he denies. "This will not be out Thanksgiving. All right, you all wait here. Give me an hour. Terry, to the door!"

He doesn't move a muscle. "I'm just gonna put you down, man."

"Yeah, totally," Charles approves. "That makes sense."

Kat screeches when a rat brushes past her hand on the desk, and Rosa strides forward, quickly detaching the keyboard from the computer and whacking the rodent off the table. Gina pries her sister's hand from her arm, and Kat breathes out a sigh of relief. "Thanks," she tells Diaz.

A satisfied smile adorns Rosa's face. "This is easily one of the best nights of my life," she says.

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

To keep themselves busy whilst Charles sorted out whatever he had planned, Kat and Gina had taken out the Monopoly board they had permanently stored in the break room. The siblings, Rosa, Terry, and Amy are all in the middle of a heated game when Jake and Holt return from their escapade. "Hey," the captain calls out. The group playing all pause and look up. "What are y'all doing here?"

Rosa moves a green house onto one of her properties as she responds, "Amy broke everything and got us kicked out of the bar."

"Then we got very close to being maimed by rats," Kat calls out. She shudders at the memory of one of the creatures touching her.

Yet another smile appears on Rosa's face. "It's the best Thanksgiving ever," she proclaims.

Holt nods with a small smile as he watches them. "Fascinating."

Gina breaks into a grin when the dice stop rolling. "Boom!" she yells. "Take that, bitches!"

They all groan as they watch Gina place her third hotel on her set of properties, but when Kat holds up a hand, they fall quiet. The entire bullpen is dead silent as everyone watches Katherine shake the dice in her hand, then let them roll. The only sound is her pointedly moving her figurine on each square on the board.

When she stops on her final position, Rosa scoffs. "Are you kidding me?" she exclaims.

Amy stares at the board in disbelief. "This is insane," she whispers.

Kat sighs in content and leans back in her chair. "Well, that's my tenth hotel. So you can all give me the rest of your money, or declare bankruptcy now and save yourselves the embarrassment of letting me destroy each one of you individually."

Gina drops her head onto the desk. "You're gonna gloat anyways," she mutters.

"Oh, absolutely."

Rosa rolls her eyes and grabs the board, swiping everything off it in the process, then slams it down onto the ground. Kat purses her lips as they watch the woman jump on top of it and yell out multiple profanities as she bends the board to the point where it's now unusable.

"Well, that's the end of Monopoly," Gina deadpans.

Kat sighs. "It was bound to happen eventually," she concludes.

Rosa throws a few bills over to the sisters before returning to her chair. "I'll pay for it," she says.

Charles walks back into the bullpen with zero idea of what had just happened. "Happy Turkey Day!" he calls out. He gestures the delivery men holding bags of food past him. "Right through there, gentlemen. Not a lot of places are open, so this will be a multiethnic, non-traditional Thanksgiving. It's a real culinary challenge. Give me fifteen minutes, and then we feast!"

Now he's no longer distracted by a vicious game of Monopoly, Terry's hunger has returned. "Make it five," he retorts. 

"You eat with your eyes, so the plating alone-"

"Five, Boyle!"

Exactly four minutes and fifty-nine seconds later, the squad are seated inside the briefing room that has been decorated with whatever Charles could find to make it into a proper Thanksgiving dinner. Kat leans back in her seat and takes a long sip of the water Rosa had sternly ordered her to drink to sober up.

"So, this is kind of a twist on your typical Thanksgiving dinner," Charles explains, grinning widely as he holds his arms out to the spread of food before them. "For turkey, we have Peking duck with veggie samosa stuffing. The potatoes are the empanadas with an Ethiopian lentil stew gravy. And for dessert, some seasonal gelatine cups! Okay, I ran out of money... They're from when Hitchcock had a colonoscopy. Bon appétit!"

Jake strides in dressed in a suit and die, like he had initially been told to wear, and smiles at the sight of them all. "I'm here, I'm here," he announces. He takes the last empty seat beside Amy. "Finally something to actually be grateful for."

"What are you wearing?" Rosa questions in amusement.

"Santiago said to dress up, so..."

"Well, you look beautiful," Amy smiles. "That's my thing now. I'm just owning it. Okay, before we eat..."

"Nope," Terry interjects quickly. "Not doing that again. Move!" He stills when Hitchcock tries to reach past him. "You get that hand near me again, you're gonna lose it."

Kat grins. "Aw, Sarge, you're sounding like Rosa."

Jake hums. "Okeydokey, let's eat."

Rosa glances to the blonde beside her as she sips her glass of wine. Kat realises that someone's watching her and she meets Rosa's eyes with a small smile. "What?" she asks.

Rosa shrugs. "Nothing."

"So," Charles begins. "You pretty much got the disaster night you hoped for," he tells Diaz.

"Yeah, 'til you made the best Thanksgiving meal I've ever had, and ruined it," Rosa responds. Charles and Kat share a smile.

"Excuse me!" All eyes fall onto Jake as he stands up. "Uh, so, earlier at Amy's, I didn't give a real toast, because I didn't know what to say. But since then, a wise, unsmiling man named Gerald Jimes made me realise what I'm thankful for." He and Holt share a smile. "So I'd just like to say I'm happy to be here with my family – my super weird family – with two black dads, and two Latina daughters, and two white sons, and..." He tilts his head as he studies Kat and Gina. "The Linettis."

They both grin at how he couldn't use anything else to describe them. 

"And... I don't know what you are, some strange giant baby?" Scully smiles. Jake raises his glass of wine. "To the Nine-Nine."

"To the Nine-Nine," they all echo.

"That was perfect," Charles says, blinking away the tears in his eyes.

Jake gasps. "Ooh, Boyle cries!" He holds up his bingo card and beams. "I won Boyle bingo!" The room breaks into yells of protests, and Jake's grin only widens. "Suck it!"

𝘸𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦

𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘪 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴