𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐬𝐢𝐱 | 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻

A LOT HAD HAPPENED OVER the last few weeks. Amy had confessed she had liked Jake (she didn't own up that she still does), Teddy is now out of the picture, Darlene Linetti is having a casual fling with Lynn Boyle, and Kat is entirely convinced that her now sixteen-year-old daughter hates her. Gina had reassured her that it was because Tisha is well into her teenage phase, that it's just the hormones and constantly changing mood swings, but Kat would forever remain paranoid that she had done something wrong. She hadn't, it was all in her head.

"Mark the day, Sarge. December twenty-fourth, the capture of Doug Judy."

Kat smiles at Jake's overconfident voice ringing through her ears from the comms. "It's in my calendar," she reassures him. Two days ago, the Nine-Nine had received a tip on the whereabouts of the infamous Pontiac Bandit, and to their surprise, he was in New York. As much as she hates him, Kat had to give him credits. He's a smart criminal; the worst kind of criminal. "Okay, go back to being Santa."

The three people tied closest to the case of Doug Judy are positioned across the street, blending in with the crowd or in a disguise. Jake, dressed as Santa Claus, rings his bell to try and get people to donate into his bucket. "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas! Whoa, thank you, good sir! The elves will not starve this night."

"You are a terrible Santa," Rosa says bluntly. She and her motorcycle are parked across the road to survey the area from a different direction.

"I'm deeply offended," Jake mutters. "Any sign of our bogie?"

"Negative."

Kat's brows draw together as she looks across the street from her position behind a coffee stall. This might be her favourite persona yet. It's only because she gets free coffee though. "I'm not saying we're not going to catch him," she begins. "But are you sure our guy's gonna show?"

"My C.I. said he walked this route exactly the last three days," Jake explains.

"Fine, but in ten minutes, we're calling it," Rosa declares firmly. "I have to get back to my ecstasy task force. We have to bag a major Giggle Pig player soon, or they're gonna shut us down." Kat smiles to a customer and presses the button on the coffee machine. She sighs happily at the smell of the freshly ground beans. "Sarge, you copy?"

She quickly snaps out of her daze. "Oh, yeah, sorry. Agreed. We can't afford to keep standing around." Kat can't help but chuckle once Jake continues with his Santa impression.

"Ho, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum! Presents!"

"I take back what I said earlier," Rosa announces. "You're the worst Santa in the history of Santas. Guys, holy crap, nine o'clock."

Katherine's eyes widen. "The Pontiac Bandit," she whispers in awe. She quickly rips off her apron, tossing it to the owner of the stall, and subtly heads toward Jake and Judy. "I've got you now, Doug Judy..." After last time, she wants nothing more to be the one to put the handcuffs on the man.

Jake takes a deep breath and nods to himself. "Okay, Santa, stay calm, just like we practised," he murmurs. He steps out in the middle of the sidewalk. "Merry Judy, Mr Doug Judy Christmas." Kat and Rosa stare at him exasperatedly. "Damn it!"

Doug's eyes narrow when he turns around to see Jake as Santa. "Peralta?" he calls out questioningly.

"No!"

He tosses his snacks at Jake as a distraction. "Onion ring attack!"

Whilst Jake is slowed down by his costume, Kat races across the street to try and get to the bandit. "NYPD," she yells. "Freeze, Judy!"

Doug gasps at the familiar voice and he throws a glance to her over his shoulder. "I've missed you so much," he calls back, blowing her a kiss.

Rosa's jaw clenches and she hurries behind the blonde as they follow him into the Christmas tree yard. With their guns raised, Jake, Rosa, and Kat share a look before the sergeant directs them to different sections of the gated area.

As she passes the countless clumps of different coloured trees, Kat's eyes linger on one decorated with lights. "Ooh, that's pretty," she whispers. Her attention quickly moves to the civilians watching her. "NYPD, get out of here." Her head snaps to the side when she hears a shriek, and not long after, smoke hits her nose. "What the hell-"

She reaches Jake at the same time as Rosa, and they stare in surprise at the scene before them. Not only has Peralta got Judy on his knees, but he's managed to knock an oil heater onto a tree. Even from a few feet back, Kat can feel the warmth of the roaring flames.

"Doug Judy, you're under arrest," Jake says as he tugs his fake beard down.

"Hands behind your head and interlace your fingers," Kat demands impatiently.

Judy bites onto his lip as he looks between them. "Love you too, boo." She rolls her eyes. "Hey, Rosa, Merry Christmas, girl!"

"Shut up," Rosa snaps.

A group of civilians, including multiple kids, have stumbled upon the scene. "Take a good look, kids," Jake yells. Judy waves to them all with a smile. "This is what happens when you're naughty!"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

Jake sighs in content as he walks out onto the fourth floor. "Good people of the Nine-Nine," he announces cheerfully. "I present to you the seventh wonder of the world, Doug Judy, AKA the Pontiac Bandit, foiled at last!"

As Rosa leads Judy out into the bullpen, their colleagues erupt into applause. "It would actually make him the eighth wonder," Kat steps out beside them. She waves a hand when Jake gives her a deadpanned look. "I'll just let you have the moment."

Doug smiles brightly at the cheers. "Wow, you guys, thank you very much!"

Jake's eyes narrow. "All right, that's enough, Judy," he says shortly. "This is my moment." Kat clears her throat. "It's mostly my moment. You are not to enjoy it."

"I can't help it. I'm proud of you. You're like a son to me. A white, crispy son."

Kat stares blankly at Judy. She's hasn't even been in his presence for an hour, and she's already exhausted of him. As she glances to Rosa beside her, she realises she's not alone.

"How would that even work?" Jake retorts in amusement. "Am I adopted?"

"No, your mother's just really pale," Judy replies. "Almost invisible."

"Okay."

"Anyways! It's a shame I gotta ruin your celebration by cutting a deal and getting out of here."

"Never," Jake immediately exclaims. He turns to looks at his superior officers. "Right?" Kat and Holt share a look.

Judy shrugs. "I'm just saying, I know a lot of real high-profile felons. Makes me a very desirable tattletale..."

Rosa's eyes narrow as he bites his lip while looking at her. "We will never cut a deal with you," she retorts sharply. "Not after you screwed us last year."

"You don't want any info on a local burglary ring, perhaps?" he suggests with an innocent smile.

"Not good enough," Holt dismisses.

"Testify, Captain!" Jake cheers passionately.

"How about a guy who makes fake credit cards?"

Kat rolls her eyes. "Please, who do you think we are? You're talking about Frank on Ocean Ave, aren't you?" Judy stays silent, but his lips lift into a smile. "Now you're smiling because it reminds you of Frank Ocean. Not funny."

"It's kinda funny," Jake grins. His smile immediately drops when she turns to glare at him. "Not funny at all. See, Judy? No matter what you say, you're going to jail."

"What about drugs? Y'all ever heard of Giggle Pig?"

Katherine grits her teeth together in frustration. She hates what is about to happen. She, Holt, and Rosa share a knowing look. They're all suddenly very interested with what he has to say. "What do you know?" Rosa presses.

Judy smirks as Jake immediately begins to panic. "No, no, no, no, no, we're not listening," the detective protests. "We can't hear him! Everybody shoot your guns in the air!"

Whilst Judy is being moved into interrogation, Kat finds herself being dragged by Charles toward the copy room. "Boyle, what the hell is going on?" she asks the man impatiently.

He holds up the present in his other hand. "We have to discuss something," he says ominously, ignoring her bewildered look.

"Discuss what?" Kat sighs as he remains silent. Gina looks up from her paperwork at their entrance, sending a confused look to her sister when Charles quickly shuts the door behind him.

"You guys need to see this," he tells them, frantic as he places the wrapped present onto the table.

"Oh, Charles, I can't take that," Gina admits with a sigh. "It's clearly not cash, and I don't have time in my life to return things."

Kat nods. "And I don't have time right now at all. Seriously, what is going on?"

Charles leans forward to them as they begin their clandestine meeting. "I found this at my dad's place last night," he reveals, nodding to the gift. "It's from him to your mom."

Gina stands up in alarm. "No!"

"Yes!" Charles whisper-yells.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kat hisses.

"No!"

Gina glances back to the gift. "Okay, this is bad," she declares. "I thought our parents were just having a casual fling, but presents is like old people third base."

"They were having a casual fling," Katherine frowns. "That's what Mom told me!" Her face falls as realisation dawns upon her. "That was last week..."

"They may be getting serious."

Kat's eyes widen when Gina immediately slaps him across the face. "Don't you dare say that!" she says in horror. "Do you know how disgustingly entangled our lives will be if our parents turn into a real couple?"

Charles quickly nods. "Yes," he confirms. "You think I want you and your mom horning in on the Boyle boys' mimosa brunches? That's our guy time!"

Katherine tilts her head slightly. "I do love mimosas," she says thoughtfully. "No. No, we want nothing more than that to not happen!"

Gina vigorously nods in agreement, and she takes a deep breath as she turns back to the present. "We need to figure out what is in this horrible package, so we can determine where they're at in their relationship."

"I'm scared to find out what it is," Kat says hesitantly.

The older Linetti shudders. "What if it's a romantic book or, like, a picture of the two of them in a frame?" Kat and Charles grimace at the thought. "Oh, or 'his and hers' pyjamas?"

"The kind that dissolve in your mouth," Boyle says, alarm seeping off each word.

"Ew," the sisters exclaim.

"No, Charles," Kat tells him firmly. "Don't put that into my head. Okay, Gina clear out the break room. Boyle, get some gloves and an evidence kit. We'll regroup in twenty." They share a nod and hurry off to their respective tasks.

She finds Holt, Rosa, and Jake in the observation room as they watch Judy dance in his chair. The second Kat walks in, Jake clears his throat, eager to get whatever they're about to do over with. "All right, before we make a deal with this evil monster, can I just ask something?" Holt crosses his arms. "Is Giggle Pig really that important?"

"My job, Rosa's job, and the fate of this entire precinct all depend upon the outcome of this task force," the captain answers.

Jake grits his teeth. "All right, fine," he huffs.

"Diaz, what's our status right now?"

"We've picked up a bunch of dealers, but our main target is Tito Ruiz," Rosa explains. She hands Holt the file containing information on the suspect.

Kat leans against the desk and folds her arms. "We believe he runs the entire operation," she adds. "But we can't prove any of it because none of his people will turn on him just because he bit off a few noses."

Rosa glances to the sergeant once she noticed her rolling her eyes. "Babies," she agrees.

Jake sighs. "I say the only way we make a deal with Doug Judy is if he can give us the top guy, Tito Ruiz," he decides. They all nod in agreement with him.

"I can give you Tito Ruiz," is the first thing Judy says when they walk into the interrogation room.

"Oh, come on, Judy," Jake scoffs irritably. "I mean, how do we even know this is real?" He gestures to the man in cuffs. "This guy's a huckster! He's a lie guy."

Holt glances to Kat sat beside him at the table and she subtly nods in support with the detective's words. "Peralta has a point," he says. "You have been a lie guy to us before. Give me some details."

"Lots of details," Katherine corrects.

When Judy grins, her eyes narrow. "Only 'cause you asked so nicely. Ruiz and I were cellies in Attica in the nineties. He texted me last week, needs some cars to deliver his product. I said no because drugs are stupid. Except for weed and sex pills. A man has needs." Kat watches Rosa's jaw tick when Judy begins to sing the all too familiar song. "Rosa, Rosa, Rosa, Rosa. I can't think of your last name, baby."

Kat leans closer to him. "If you don't stop talking, I will strangle you with your own hands," she threatens. Rosa relaxes ever so slightly.

However, the exact opposite happens to what Kat had been hoping for. Judy's eyes meet hers. "Katherine, Katherine, Katherine," he sings. "Oh, yeah."

The sergeant closes her eyes in annoyance. "I remember this all too well," she mutters.

Jake suddenly gasps. "And maybe we got lost in translation," he breaks into song. "Maybe I asked for too much."

He grins when Kat glances up to him looking considerably less angry. She momentarily forgets who sits in the room with them. "But maybe this this was a masterpiece, 'till you tore it all up"

Doug Judy's eyes are wide as he joins in. "Running scared, I was there-"

"I remember it all too well-"

Rosa rolls her eyes at how her friends and the Pontiac Bandit are belting Taylor Swift during an interrogation. She shouldn't be surprised though; it was bound to happen eventually. "Enough," Holt interrupts them exasperatedly. "Can you get us a face to face with Ruiz?"

Judy nods. "Yeah, but you gotta give me zero jail time," he attempts to bargain.

"No, that's not gonna happen."

"Ha ha!" Jake sneers. "Stupid Judy."

But Holt isn't finished. "The D.A., however, will offer a reduced sentence in return for Ruiz's arrest." Peralta closes his eyes in defeat. "Five years instead of twenty."

"That's tough," Judy confesses. "But fair." His gaze moves to Jake. "I can see why you have such intense daddy-stuff with him. You, too, lover." Kat's eyes narrow to slits and he flinches slightly,

"Oh, yeah, the two without daddies are the ones with daddy issues." Jake laughs it off. "Explain that logic."

"You just did it for us," Kat deadpans.

"Since I'm going to jail, I wanna enjoy my time left on the outside," Judy explains. "Put me up in a five-star hotel like the Royce. Unlimited room service and minibar privileges."

Holt immediately counters his demand. "Three-star hotel like the Brooklyner. Sixty a day meal allowance. No minibar." Jake gives Doug a smug look.

"Four-star hotel like the Oneida. Two-hundred in food, no minibar or alcohol, but I get to go crazy on candy and nuts."

"Done," Kat agrees.

"Oh, one last thing," he chimes in. A smile adorns his face as he looks between the two females. "Diaz has to be nice to me, I want her to call me big sugar. And Linetti, I can handle the aggression, it turns me on if I'm honest. Just don't try to kill me."

Jake laughs loudly at Judy's demands. "Huge mistake, bud. They'll never agree to that."

"No, I'm in," Rosa states. She takes a step closer to Judy. "Let's do this, big sugar." He gasps.

Kat sighs heavily in defeat. "Fine," she says. "But I can't promise I won't threaten to kill you."

"What?" Jake groans in annoyance that they've all agreed to Doug's terms. "All right, fine. If this is going down, I wanna be on this case, and my sole focus is Doug Judy. He never leaves my sights."

"Love it!" Judy grins. "Pontiac Bandit and Jake. PB and J ride again! Reunited and it feels so good. It's a duet," he encourages the detective. "Get in on this! Reunited 'cause we understood."

Jake stumbles over his words before he jabs a finger at the man. "No. No!"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

Just like they had planned, the Linettis and Charles meet back together in the break room. As requested, Charles is wearing gloves and holds various tools that are going to help him unwrap the present. Gina paces back and forth anxiously whilst Kat stares blankly at the gift as if she would be able to make it disappear.

"Okay, we just unwrap it, we see what's inside, then we perfectly rewrap it," Charles stresses nervously. "Our parents never know what happened."

Gina grimaces at his shining forehead. "Ugh, lord, you're starting to sweat." She dabs a tissue on his skin.

"You'll blemish the wrapping paper," Kat adds with a shake of her head. She kisses her teeth in disappointment. "Come on, Boyle."

Charles winces as Gina continues to blot his face. "You're dabbing me really hard," he confesses.

Gina steps back and sighs. "You know what? This is taking too long. Just scooch, you pooch." Charles and Kat move to the empty chairs and watch Gina draw the present closer to her. She then uses her acrylic nails to precisely tear the tape.

Kat leans back and smiles proudly. "That's my girl."

"You are amazing," Charles says in awe. "How did you do that?"

"I always open my gifts in advance, so I can rehearse my reactions and nail those Christmas-morning candids," she explains. Charles nods with understanding and Kat rolls her eyes in amusement. "Check it out. Be-wonderment," Gina freezes and gasps. "Disbe-loving it!" She beams brightly with a laugh. Next, she puckers her lips and widens her eyes. "Sparkle-surprise!"

"Oh, I love that one," Charles grins.

Kat chuckles. "Okay, people, the reveal has arrived." She pulls the box over to her, all of them tensed with apprehension. "Your dad got our mom..." They stare at what is discovered inside. "What the hell?"

"A digital scale?" Boyle says with a grimace. "Oh, that's bad."

"So bad," Gina agrees. "So wonderfully bad. Your dad might as well have circled all the parts of our mom's body he didn't like with a marker."

Charles points to her. "You did that to me!"

Kat's hands immediately fly to her ears. "Too much information," she protests.

"Our mom is gonna hate this gift," Gina says. She pauses for a second in thought. "And she'd hate it even more if we were all there when she opened it." Kat and Charles look at her with widened eyes. "Should we do a gift exchange dinner tonight with both our parents?"

"Yes," the sergeant answers quickly. "Oh, my God, yes."

"Great idea. Maybe she'll slap him in the face and never talk to him again."

Gina giggles and quickly points to her expression. "Sparkle-surprise, for real!" Kat bursts into laughter.

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

"All right, big sugar." Rosa rolls her eyes as she leads Judy into the suite. He smiles and puts down his suitcase. "Four-star hotel room, you happy?"

Kat shifts her scowl onto him. With learning her mother is in a relationship with Boyle's father and having to deal with Judy in general, she's having a rather bad day. "You better be," she grumbles. "But then again, you don't have a choice."

Judy grins and shakes his jacket off. "Okay, okay! Okay, flat screen TV, king-sized bed, hangers you can take off the rod? This is what's up. This place is nice!" He walks over to Rosa and Kat who are looking just as irritated as each other. "We should settle down here, ladies." Kat inhales a deep breath. "Now if y'all excuse me, I'ma go freshen up. I'm feeling stanky."

"Hold it," Jake interjects. "Not so fast." He hurries into the room before Judy to double check the contents.

"Let's make out," Judy whispers to the detective.

"Not yet," Rosa responds. Kat can't help but smile slightly as Judy stammers over his words.

"All right, there's no windows," Jake announces. He nods to Doug. "You can go in. But leave the door open, and I'm hanging on to this."

Kat nods in agreement as Jake holds up the hairdryer. Judy, however, is thoroughly amused. "What in the world would I do with that?" he questions.

"Smash our heads with it and wrap the cord around our throats," Katherine deadpans. Jake points to her.

"Nah, I was just gonna use it to dry my undercarriage later," Judy responds with a shrug. Jake grimaces. "Would you just relax, okay? Stop being so paranoid. I'm playing ball! I got you. If you'll excuse me..."

"Two minutes max," Kat calls out sternly. "If you are in there a second longer, I will put you back in cuffs before you can even comprehend it."

Judy raises his brows. "You sure you don't wanna come in with me?" he asks suggestively.

"I said I'd try not to kill you, not become your hook-up. Lower the expectations."

"Worth a try," he mutters.

The second Judy disappears into the bathroom, Jake spins around to his friends. "All right, we can't be too careful. Let's go over the plan one more time," he says quietly.

"Doug Judy texts Ruiz to set up a meet. We each have a hidden wire, and we record Ruiz talking about Giggle Pig, then take him down. Tac team is on call for backup-" Rosa pauses as they watch Jake kneel beside Judy's shoes. "What are you doing? You look like a pervert."

Kat smiles. "Smart. I taught you well," she tells him.

"Thank you, Sarge," Jake whispers with a grin. He holds up the tracker for Rosa. "I'm putting a GPS tracker in his shoe. He is not getting away from me again, even if it means putting my favourite hand into his rotten stink-boot." Kat covers her mouth with her fist to quieten her chuckles at Jake's disgusted expression as he places the tracker inside the boot. "Okay, done."

"Hoo-hoo!" Judy emerges from the bathroom with the hotel's menu in his hand. "Did you see the menu?"

Kat's eyebrows draw together in confusion. "They had a menu in the bathroom?"

Being so distracted by the choice of meals, her question flies right over Judy's head. "Lobster thermidor, baked alaska." He grins as he stops before the three. "It's so fancy, it don't even sound like food. Here, come on," he says, offering the menu to Jake. "Order something. Order it. Do it. Order it."

"No thanks," Jake says. "I'm on duty."

Judy sighs in disappointment. "Come on, Peralta. You gonna let the criminal have all the fun?"

Jake notices Kat's warning stare but decides to ignore it. What harm could sharing a lobster do? "All right, fine," he agrees. He skims over the menu quickly, unaware of the annoyed look Rosa and Kat share. "I'll have one Lobster Thermidor, extra Thermidor on the side."

"Actually, extra Thermidor isn't-"

Rosa nudges Kat's side and mutters, "Don't bother." She sighs.

"I have no idea what I'm ordering!"

"Me either," Judy admits. "We're like culinary Magellans. You know how we take this to the next level? Robes!"

A grin quickly appears on Jake's face. "Robes!"

Kat and Rosa watch Judy and Jake run out of the bathroom wearing matching dark grey robes and leap onto the bed. The scowls on their faces show that they wish to be anywhere other than here right now. So much for being professional.

To pass the time, Kat had requested Rosa to recite the entire episode of the twentieth episode of Gilmore Girls considering she had missed watching it with Tisha last night. So while Jake and Judy gush over the possibilities of what their food will look like, Rosa excitedly deep dives into the episode.

It takes another five minutes before someone knocks on their door and wheels in the room service cart. "Three Lobster thermidors, spaghetti and meatballs, Caesar salad with tater tots instead of croutons," the employee lists off to Jake.

He takes the bill with a smile. "Oh, that's me, the salad," Jake says. "I'm trying to eat healthy." Kat opens her mouth to protest but quickly closes it soon after. Like Rosa had said before, she shouldn't bother.

"I hear that," Judy points to him from the bed. "Your body is a temple."

The hotel employee leaves the room and Jake sighs as he returns to the plates of lobster. "All right, I'm searching it," he declares.

Kat almost laughs at the horror that flashes across Doug's face as Jake begins tampering with the food. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" he exclaims. "Peralta, what you doing, putting your fingers in my fancy feast?"

"What?"

"How am I supposed to escape using a lobster?"

"Squeeze the lemon into my eyes so I can't see, stab me in the jugular with a claw, and then shove the tail down my throat so I can't scream for help," Jake explains breathlessly. "I gotta keep my eye on you, Judy. You're a slippery guy."

Kat shakes her head. "Wow, great job, Peralta," she deadpans. "You just gave our criminal a well thought out plan of how to murder one of us." Rosa purses her lips to stifle her laughter.

While Jake rolls his eyes, Judy points between them with a nod. "No, that's fair," he admits. "I am a slippery guy. But right now, I'm all for about helping you. So why don't you just chill and eat some sexy-ass lobster?"

Rosa finally reaches the limit of her patience. She uncrosses her legs and leans forward in her chair. "Okay, we held up our end of the bargain. Text Ruiz now, friend."

"Okay, but how ab-"

"Now, Judy," Kat demands. She holds up her handcuffs as a warning.

He raises his hands. "Kinky, but fine." Doug grabs his phone and raises it so he can speak into the microphone. "Tito, dot, dot, dot. You around, question mark. Wanna meet up, period." He smiles as he sends the message. "Speech to text, we live in a magical age."

"It's like The Jetsons," Jake grins.

"By the way, this Tito dude, he spooks real easy. So-"

"No," Peralta interrupts him. "There's no way you're going in alone." He gestures to Kat and Rosa. "We're coming with you. I've already got my cover story worked out. My name is Dante Thunderstone. I stole my first car at the tender age of nine."

"You had to fend for yourself since your mother was struck by lightning," Judy offers eagerly.

Kat rolls her eyes.

"While she was pregnant with me," Jake gasps. "She passed, I lived. Some say that makes Zeus my dad."

"Oh," Judy exclaims excitedly. "That's dope! And, Rosa, you could be my wife..." He trails off as he tries to think of a name but lands on, "Rosa."

"Why would you take your wife with you to meet a drug dealer?" Diaz retorts.

"'Cause we're partners in everything we do," Doug replies.

Jake smiles. "Aw."

"And Kat, you're my mistress-slash-bodyguard," Judy continues with a grin. She stares back at him blankly. "But we all doing it together on the down low. Love me a good threesome."

"How exciting," she says, her tone dry and extremely sarcastic. Rosa cracks a smile at how unamused she looks.

The Pontiac Bandit's phone dings. "Whoa... Tito wants to meet up," Judy tells them after reading the message.

"Great," Jake says happily. "Tell him to meet us over here. We'll get him a lobster and a robe." He takes one look at the women behind him and corrects his words. "I mean, no, let's go catch him in the act."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

All it had taken to gain Ruiz's trust was for Jake to successfully break into and then start a car under a minute. Tito leads the group down the flight of stairs to his warehouse. Kat and Rosa share a look of disbelief that they're actually looking at the base of operations for Giggle Pig. There are less workers than there are dozens of containers and vials of chemicals, but it's easy to say that what they're looking at must be worth millions.

"Wow, sweet setup," Jake praises, his hands shoved into the pockets of his coat. "What do you make here?"

"Don't worry about it," Tito dismisses him.

He nods. "Oh, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool..."

"We need twenty cars a week," Ruiz tells them as they walk past the tables covered in science equipment. "I want to use them each once, then dump 'em."

"Oh, well, you picked the right man," Jake says. "So are we gonna make a deal or what?" Kat subtly gives him a look, silently begging him not to push it any further. "Or do I need to talk to your boss?"

"You can talk to me."

"So you're the boss?"

"Yeah, I'm the boss, and this is my place." His words are sharp, almost challenging Jake to go any further. "And in my place, people know they shouldn't ask dumb questions. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," Peralta answers calmly.

"I tried to tell him, Tito," Judy chimes in.

"If we're done with this masculinity competition, let's talk details," Kat says, her eyes narrowed impatiently.

But before a conversation can be held, the garage door is crushed by a garbage truck that has rammed into it. Everyone in the room reacts quickly, diving out the way or taking cover. Jake looks over to Kat frantically. "Is that us?" he asks, raising his voice to be heard above the commotion.

She shakes her head. "No, but we need to move."

"We gotta go right now," Rosa orders the tactical teams through her comms. "Go, go, go!" The NYPD burst into the warehouse at the command.

"NYPD! On the ground!"

"NYPD, nobody move!"

"Diaz," Jake calls out warningly.

Rosa is tackled to the ground, but quickly twists her assailant around and grabs his hands. "Don't need help," she reassures them. "Behind you!"

Jake and Kat spin around to see Judy leaning on the side of the garbage truck. Deciding that she needs to help get some of these people in handcuffs, Kat leaves Peralta to deal with the Pontiac Bandit. She hurries over to the tables with chemicals spilled over them, raising her gun at one of the workers who flinches toward her. "Hands behind your head," she demands.

"Kat," Rosa yells in alarm.

She whirls around and grunts as she's immediately thrown onto the ground. Kat's jaw clenches in frustration as she tries to manoeuvre the heavier man off her. "I said, hands up," she exclaims angrily.

"Rot in hell, pig." He drives the knife into her stomach before she can notice it.

Kat gasps in pain as she feels the blade be ripped out of her body as fast as it had entered. The adrenaline masks the agony slowly increasing, and for a moment she forgets that she's been stabbed.

"Oh, you're done," she snarls. She lurches up and smacks her forehead against the man's, using his distracted state to her advantage and shoving him to the side. She rushes over and tightly grabs his wrists. "You've just added assault to a police officer to your long list of charges."

Once the cuffs are secured, she takes a step back and acknowledges the burning pain in her stomach. Rosa's eyes are wide as she hurries over to her. "What the hell happened?" she questions in concern.

"I was stabbed," she responds simply.

Rosa rolls her eyes. "No shit."

Kat cracks a smile but winces as she puts firm pressure on the bleeding wound. "Is Judy gone?" she asks, glancing over to where the truck had been a few minutes before.

"Yeah, Peralta went after Ruiz instead," Rosa explains. A smile graces her face as they watch Jake return to the space dragging Tito behind him. "We are so getting a raise."

Kat laughs. "I'd hope so," she agrees.

"Okay, I'll call for an ambulance," Diaz says, worry prominent on her face as she watches Kat remove her bloodied hands from her stomach.

"No, it's fine!"

"You were stabbed, Sarge."

"Fine."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

It had taken almost an hour before Katherine had been discharged from the hospital with stitches in her stomach. Even though she's on some rather brilliant painkillers, it still hurts whenever she takes a step. At least now she can say she's been stabbed five times in the line of duty. Despite her shift now well and truly over, she can't go home just yet. She has somewhere she needs to be.

Charles and Gina are outside Shaw's when Kat arrives at the bar. However, as soon as her sister gets out of her car, Gina immediately realises something's wrong. "What did you do?" she calls out.

Kat scoffs. "Seriously?"

"What did you do?" Gina repeats, hurrying over to her in concern.

"I was lightly stabbed."

Charles's eyes widen in panic. "You were stabbed?" he shrieks.

"Lightly!" Kat emphasises. "I was lightly stabbed."

Gina gently smacks her arm. "You idiot," she scolds. "Did you get it checked?"

"Yes, and I'm fine." She smiles as they continue to look at her worriedly. "Guys, I'm fine, seriously. Did you bring the presents?"

Charles nods with a smile and he holds up a gift wrapped in red paper in his hand. "This one's for you," he tells her.

"Oh, my God, is it a whisk?"

His face falls at Kat's question. "You don't have a whisk?" he asks in horror.

Gina sighs. "Here we go," she mumbles.

As they head inside the bar, Charles continues his rant about how Kat doesn't have the right amount of passion for food nor the excitement for learning to cook or cook anything at all. Darlene and Lynn are already there, sitting at a table toward the back with their presents on the table for the exchange.

Of course, Kat had then listened to her mother scold her for over five minutes on not being careful enough resulting in her being stabbed. It's like Darlene isn't aware that she was putting her life at risk every single day. This might have been a bigger reaction than when she had been shot.

After ordering drinks – something that the three younger adults know they're going to need a few of – Lynn begins to express his appreciation for the last-minute plans. "Thank you, Charles, Regina, Katherine, for inviting us on this double and a half date," he smiles. "Kind of like a fun Christmas five-way, right?"

Darlene nods. "Well put, Lynn." Her daughters share a look. "A very sweet sentiment."

"Oh, my God," Gina interjects, unable to listen to them any longer. "I have an idea. Let's open presents! I wanna see what everyone got everyone and how everyone reacts poorly."

Charles grins brightly. "I'll go first," he says with excitement. He hands the red box to Kat. "For you, my lady."

With an eager smile on her face, she quickly tears the paper away. Kat pauses as she stares at what's inside. "It's a..." She glances to Charles. "I don't know what that is."

"It's a garlic crusher," he beams. "My new mission in life is to get you to appreciate food. That's it."

Kat hums and she holds the utensil closer to examine it. "Huh..."

"What a perfect gift," Gina proclaims with a grin. "I'm sure she'll use it every day." She snickers when her sister looks at her exasperatedly.

"Okay, my turn." Lynn nervously swallows as he pushes his present over to Darlene. "I just hope you like it."

Gina, Kat, and Charles all share a knowing look as Darlene opens the present; they've predicted exactly how she'll react. "A digital scale? Lynn Boyle, you're a horrible, horrible man." Darlene smiles. "You went way over our price limit. And I love it!"

Kat blinks. "What the hell," she mumbles. Both Charles and Gina beside her share her exact expression. "What the hell?"

"It's gonna go so great in the guest bathroom."

"What?" they exclaim simultaneously.

"Lynn and I are moving in together," Darlene reveals. Charles grimaces. Gina stares at her mother. Kat downs the rest of her shot of tequila. "And the rent's a little steep, so we promised we would only exchange small gifts. But you had to push it, didn't you?"

Lynn smiles. "I did."

"You naughty boy."

"I had to get my pookums a present, pookums!"

Gina clasps her hands together just as Kat's chair screeches back. "Okay, well, this is wonderful, but-"

"We're needed elsewhere," Kat finishes. Gina grabs onto her hand and they beeline out of the bar. As they pass one of the tables, Kat swipes a bottle of wine and quickly chugs it, then hands it to Gina who needs it just as much as she does.

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

The following day is Christmas. After being stabbed, Kat had gotten the day off work to recover and spend time with Tisha. Daisy had come over for lunch, cooking pasta for her girlfriend and the teenager before all of them watched Die Hard. It had started when Jake was at the beginning of his obsession. He, Kat, and Gina had held a very heated debate whether or not it was a Christmas movie. But when he had won, it had become a Linetti family tradition. No matter what, if Jake was with them or not, they would always watch it.

The rest of the day was just Kat and Tisha, and had been just what they needed, full of movies, hot chocolate, lots of presents, baking themed treats for Bear, and (in Tisha's opinion) far too many photos. The apartment had been transformed into something warm and homey, filled with hundreds of fairy lights and garlands. They just had everything except a tree.

Holt's party at Shaw's for the Nine-Nine wasn't something Kat was thrilled to go to, but Tisha had convinced her to leave, promising that she would have a surprise when she came back.

So she's currently listening to Gina tell Amy how she had been stabbed. It was all very amusing. Gina had obviously made it ten times more dramatic than it had actually been, claiming that her sister had taken out ten guys on her own before being injured whilst trying to heroically tackle one before Rosa could get shot. However, Kat herself never interrupted. She's enjoying it just a little.

"Attention please," Raymond calls out. The group instantly quietens. "Attention. I'm sorry to interrupt your holiday revelry. It truly is a fun night." They all smile. "I'd like to propose a toast to Detective Diaz and her task force, who successfully brought down Tito Ruiz and his entire Giggle Pig network."

"Go, Rosa," Kat cheers.

The woman in mention smiles. "Great work, everyone," Rosa says as she raises her beer. "Drink up!" She heads over to Katherine, the smile still on her face. "Hey, how's the 'brutal, bloodied stab wound'?"

Kat snorts. "Yeah, Gina was super accurate." They both chuckle. "It's better than yesterday, for sure. I think it's healing okay."

"Good," Rosa nods. She takes a sip of the beer. "Uh, I just wanted to say thanks."

She raises her brows. "For what?"

"For helping," she answers with a shrug. "I couldn't have done half of the work without you."

Kat scoffs. "Are you kidding me?" she retorts. "Yes you could've. You could've done all of it without me; you basically did. I just jumped in occasionally. Rosa, you did this. This is your work. It's your task force. Be proud of yourself for once. You earned it."

Rosa falls silent for a few moments. She smiles softly. "Thanks," she says. They clink their bottles, then she nods over to the bar. "He's been sitting there for three minutes looking like he's at a funeral."

Kat sighs. "Yeah, well, Judy disappearing is affecting him more than the rest of us. I think he's the most invested."

Without needing to say anything, they head over to Jake and take the seats on either side of him. "Hey, so I checked again," Rosa begins. "Doug Judy still hasn't surfaced."

"Yeah, he has," Jake says. Kat's brows furrow as he opens the laptop in front of him. "He just sent me this."

"What's up, Peralta?" Doug Judy has filmed a video of himself with the beach behind him. He's clearly very far away from New York. "Greetings from paradise. Actually, I'm a little disappointed in the hotel. How do you mess up an omelette? It's just a flat egg."

"He pretty much just talks about the omelette for the next ten minutes, but..." Jake skips through most of the video.

"About my escape. This is my associate, Kyle." Judy pans the camera to reveal his accomplice. Kat's jaw clenches as she immediately recognises him. "He drove the garbage truck. You may also remember him as the room service waiter I had you tip so generously."

"Son of a bitch," Rosa snaps angrily.

"I'm going to kill him," Katherine seethes.

Jake nods. "Yup. And when he ordered the lobster, it was code for Kyle to follow him."

"Anyways, tell Diaz she loves me, and let Linetti know I've bought a ring. Merry Christmas!"

The laptop is quickly closed. "Hey, first things first, I swear to you we are gonna catch Doug Judy," Rosa promises seriously.

"Yeah, I know," Jake nods. "We did it once, we can do it again."

"No, we will catch him," Kat corrects.

"More importantly, thank you," Rosa tells him. "I know how hard it was to make that choice and let him get away."

Jake smiles for a second. "No, it was an easy call," he says. "I know how much this task force means to you."

A rare, beatific grin adorns Rosa's face. "It means so much, and it's been so stressful, and it went so well," she gushes. Jake looks at her in amusement, and Kat laughs. "Seriously, look at me! I cannot stop smiling. How do people do this with their faces?"

Katherine stays at the party for another half an hour before deciding to leave early and go home to her family. As much as she loves her friends, the one place she wants to be on Christmas is at home. Just to her luck, it had then taken her twenty minutes to get back to her apartment. Brooklyn traffic is a first-class bitch.

She trudges up the stairs with a scowl on her face, her mood thoroughly dampened compared to thirty minutes ago. "Stupid people and their stupid cars," she grumbles to herself in annoyance.

When she opens the front door, she's immediately met with the strong scent of gingerbread. Kat's eyes widen in shock once she lays eyes on the kitchen. Tisha spins around with a bright grin, an apron fitted around her body and an icing bag in hand. "Merry Christmas," she cheers. "Surprise!"

Kat laughs in disbelief and walks closer to the fully assembled homemade gingerbread house. "Did you do this?" she questions. Tisha nods proudly. "This is talent, dude. Wow." Bear bounds over to his owner and bounces up and down like a kangaroo until she bends down and pats him. "Hi, buddy."

But when the blonde tries to eat some of the candy, Tisha smacks her hand away with a glare. "No, come on!" she protests. "No eating until it's done. You know the rules."

With permanent smiles on their faces, music fills the apartment as they get to work decorating the gingerbread house, trying their best to not let Bear steal any of the pieces of chocolate. Both Linettis are wearing the oversized, maroon knitted sweaters Tisha had made with the first letter of their names decorated on the front. Even though Kat's has a few holes and imperfections, it has quickly become the most treasured item she owns.

And then someone knocks on the door.

Tisha glances to her in confusion as Bear begins to bark at the unexpected arrival. "It's almost nine on Christmas," she points out. "Did you invite someone over?"

Kat frowns and dusts the icing sugar off her hands. "No, no clue... Bear, settle." As Tisha returns to the task at hand, she heads over and opens the door. "Sorry, it- Rosa?" She stares at the woman in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

Rosa clears her throat and her eyes quickly meet the pair of green. "I, uh, I couldn't give you your present earlier, so I brought it here." She smiles for a second as Bear leaps over to her as a fluffy blur.

"You got me a present?" Kat exclaims. Her eyes widen in alarm. "Oh, my God, I didn't get you a present! Now I feel terrible-"

"Kat," she interrupts. She offers her a small smile. "You don't owe me anything."

"Is that Rosa?" Tisha calls out curiously. A smile beams onto her face when she spots the detective. "Oh hey, girl! Want some gingerbread? Bear, down! Dude, get off me! Sugar is bad! I don't want a dead dog on my conscious!"

Rosa anxiously looks back to Kat. "Sorry, I don't wanna intrude or anything, if you want me to go, I'll go. Actually, yeah, I'll just leave you guys."

Kat sighs as she turns around. "Don't be stupid. Come on, you're always welcome here." They share a smile.

"Thanks," Rosa says quietly. As Kat returns to the kitchen to make sure Tisha isn't about to collapse from a sugar coma, Rosa grabs the rather large gift from the ground and drags it inside the apartment.

"Okay, that's way too many sprinkles," Katherine observes. "And not nearly enough M&Ms."

"Good point," Tisha nods. She grabs the packet and dumps the rest onto the house. "There we go!"

"Tisha!" Kat's eyes widen in horror as she watches the gingerbread house tilt ever so slightly. The teen's face falls. "You'll make it collapse! If it falls again, we're doomed."

"Merry Christmas." They both pause their argument and look over to where Rosa had called out. Kat freezes. A tall spruce tree sits in the centre of the apartment. The fairy lights covering it cast off a warm glow, highlighting the few glass baubles Rosa had decorated it with, and a simple star is placed on a centre branch.

Kat meets the woman's eyes in disbelief. "That's- How did you-"

"You had your comms on," Rosa says. "And I was directly opposite you."

Tisha looks between them with confusion. "What's going on?"

"When we caught Judy, it was in the middle of the Christmas tree yard," Kat explains quietly. "I saw this one and thought it was pretty." Her eyes flick back to Rosa. "I can't believe you got it."

Her lips curl into a small smile. "It's nothing."

"It's everything," she corrects with a shake of her head.

"Wait, wait! Hold it!" Tisha rushes out of her bedroom with a ball of dark red fabric in her hands. She grins at Rosa, unaware of the streak of sugar on her cheek. "This is for you."

Rosa glances down to the sweater. "For me?"

The teenager quickly nods. "Yeah, Mom and I have matching ones. I did one for everyone on the squad, so now you do, too!" She watches Rosa hold the sweater up to her body, then smile as she realises Tisha and Kat are wearing similar ones. "Now we have one more tradition to create."

Kat tears her eyes off Rosa and grins. "Hell yeah."

After slipping the sweater on, Rosa looks between them. "Do I wanna know what this is going to be?"

"When Gina and I were kids, we would make gingerbread houses then smash them to pieces before eating it," Kat tells her. Her smile grows as Tisha slides the finished piece over to her.

"Good thing I have my axe on me," Rosa states. She takes out the weapon from her discarded leather jacket, and Tisha's eyes widen. Bear immediately barks at the sharp object.

"Damn, Rosa," Tisha exclaims. "Where'd you keep that thing?"

"No one knows," Kat confesses with a sigh. "It's the biggest mystery of my life. Okay, kid, you get the honours."

After they all put on safety glasses, Tisha takes the axe and holds it over the gingerbread house with a mischievous grin. "One, two, three... Cowabunga!"

𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯

𝘔𝘠 𝘓𝘐𝘛𝘛𝘓𝘌 𝘍𝘈𝘔𝘐𝘓𝘠 𝘈𝘙𝘌 𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘕𝘎