𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 | 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻

"I MEAN, REALLY, KAT, IT'S not that big of a deal. It's only a..." Jake looks down to the phone he had stolen off his best friend for a few minutes. He nods. "Yeah, it's only an hour drive! Plus, I'd pay for petrol, and the... well, the bribes." The woman arches an eyebrow at him. "You know, in case we have to bribe the security guards to get upstairs. So, we could leave at lunch and just come back to our shift maybe, like, a few hours late?"

Sighing heavily, Katherine sidesteps around a trash can that had been carelessly tossed over. Her and her fellow detective walk toward the Ninety-Ninth precinct that looms over them at the end of the street. She glances over at Jake in exasperation. "Let me get this straight," she begins. "You want to visit Nakotomi Plaza on a Wednesday, while we're both swamped with cases at the moment, and arrive back late to receive the wrath of Holt?"

He takes a sip of his coffee. "Pretty much."

Her eyes narrow ever so slightly. "And you think we'd have to bribe the guards?" Of course they'd have to bribe the guards. She shouldn't even be surprised.

"Well, technically it's a working office building, so..."

"Jake!" He looks over to her hesitantly. "Dude, I'm all for this, really, I am. But could you choose any other day? Like when we actually have days off?"

He scoffs. "What's your point here?"

"Because I know for a fact that you will not spend half an hour max in the building you've fantasised about being in your entire life."

Jake sips the drink again. He swallows. "Why are you so frustrating?" Kat rolls her eyes as she opens the doors to the lobby for him. "Honestly, one minute you're encouraging me, then the next you're saying no. Make up your damn mind, woman!"

The pair of detectives walk past a few of the uniformed officers conversing with one another and over to the elevator. Instead of arguing like she knows he wants her to, Kat stays silent for a minute. Once they enter and she presses the button for the second floor, she tries to switch the topic of conversation to something he's a little less passionate about. "So we've known Holt for a week, and you didn't seem too scared when I mentioned his possible wrath..."

"That's 'cause I'm not scared of him, Katie. I'm-"

"Not scared of anyone, yeah, I know," she finishes with yet another eye roll. "Just give him a chance, I'm sure once we get to know him a bit better things will be a little more fun," she adds with a smile.

Jake hums in agreement. "Oh, yeah. This new captain is gonna solve all my problems." The doors ding and slowly open. "Who am I kidding, I ain't got probs!" They step out and Kat immediately notices her friend tense. "Oh, crap," he hisses. "Why is he looking in my desk? Kat, why is he looking in my desk?"

Following his eyesight, she watches their captain drop a case file back onto Peralta's desk and turn around upon hearing their arrival. "Oh, man, you're screwed," she whispers to him in concern.

Opening the gate to the bullpen, Jake quickly plasters on an unbothered smile. "Ah, Captain," he greets brightly. "You're at my desk!" With his hands on his hips, Holt glowers at him. "Just what I wanna see first thing in the morning."

Holt looks between them. "You're three minutes late," he says disapprovingly.

"Not my fault," Jake states quickly. "I had a plumbing problem. Which reminds me, I'm gonna need a new departmentally issued phone." He smiles.

The captain's eyes flick over to Katherine. "Linetti?"

She frowns. "Sorry, sir, I had to take my dog to the vet. He, uh, he swallowed some leftover pizza and was sick."

His eyes squint judgementally. "You should never leave something like that around in an easily accessible place for an animal. All of this is your fault." Her frown deepens. It's like she's personally offended him. Holt nods. "Dismissed."

"Apologies again, Captain."

Kat shuffles around the two and plops down into her desk chair. Jake starts toward his own but stops when their commanding officer folds his arms over his chest. "Really?" he protests in a whine. "I'm a few minutes late, so you're gonna call me out in front of everyone?"

"Good idea."

Kat's eyebrows raise. As much as she loves Jake, she can't deny the amount of joy and humour the consequences of his childish behaviour bring into her life. "You brought this onto yourself," she tells him. He scowls back at her.

"Everyone?" Jake's eyes widen. "Gather round, so I can call out Peralta." The entire bullpen pauses what they are doing.

"Okay, fine. I was three minutes late. I'm sorry for doing one thing wrong. And why aren't you calling out Kat? She was three minutes late, too!"

Holt puts on his glasses. "First, Detective Linetti had a legitimate excuse. A dog's health is far more dire than a... plumbing problem." He grabs a handful of the files stacked up on Jake's desk behind him. "Second, it's more than one thing."

Jake's smile falters. "Uh oh..."

"Let's start with the Kristov murder."

Peralta folds his arms. "It was an amazing solve," he remarks seriously. "I got him to confess in twenty minutes."

"You also mislabelled the evidence, so that confession is worthless if the sergeant hadn't caught your mistake." Terry directs his eyes onto the floor when Jake looks over at him. "Here are three cases with sloppy paperwork. Here are two pictures." Holt holds up a pair of photographs. "One is your locker. The other is a garbage dump in the Philippines."

Kat rolls her chair around to join the group that have crowded around the desk to spectate. She scrunches her nose up at the mouldy banana peel. Amy spots her reaction and leans down, the usual smug smile on her lips. "Bets?" she whispers.

"Left is locker, right is dump," Kat mutters back. Amy looks back to the photographs, hesitates for a millisecond, then nods in agreement.

"Can you tell which is which?"

Jake's eyes dart between the photos as he studies them intensely for a good few moments. He points toward the right. "That one's the dump?"

Linetti and Santiago fist bump.

"They're both your locker," Holt corrects loudly.

Jake makes a face. "Gah, I should've guessed that!" His grin returns. "He's good," he adds, pointing to their captain.

"This folder is labelled, 'Undies-comma-dirty.'" Holt gestures to a sage green folder.

The detective under the spotlight furrows his eyebrows in genuine confusion as to why it's being pointed out. "So I won't confuse it with 'Undies-comma-clean!'" Charles nods in understanding. "Also, who cares about all these rules? I have more felony arrests than any other detective here."

Holt takes a step back to the desk. "You also have more mice living in your desk than any other detective!" He pulls the top drawer out.

Peralta immediately gasps at the sight of the brown mouse squeaking inside the drawer. "Algernon!" Whilst the room makes various protests born out of disgust, Jake gently scoops up the critter into the palm of his hand to show him off. "You guys, Algernon's back!"

"I thought Rosa killed it last year," Kat comments quietly in confusion.

The curly-haired woman glances down to her. "I killed a mouse last year, yes," she confirms.

Katherine kisses her teeth. "So that must've been Frederick... No one tell Jake." Her friends quickly nod in agreement, deciding it best to just let the man believe their current story that the animal had escaped the precinct to live a better life in the big, wide world.

"Get rid of the mouse," Holt demands sternly. "And get your act together, now."

Jake raises his arm close to his face as Algernon walks along his leather jacket. "He's grumpy!"

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Covering her mouth with her hand, Kat loudly yawns. The last few weeks of sleep had been, to put it simply, terrible. First, it was the Gina problem. But after her sister left, she had troubles falling asleep in her apartment all by herself. Then, once she finally got accustomed to being alone again, Bear had eaten the pizza she forgot to put away last night. So she had, at best, maybe two or three hours of rest. Stupid pizza. No... She couldn't blame the pizza. You never blame the pizza. She barely hears Terry calling out her name during the morning briefing until Amy nudges her side and catches her attention. Blinking quickly, Kat lifts her head up from the desk. "Hm? Sorry, Sarge, you were saying?"

Terry gives her a look. "I was saying, where are we at with the Jay Street drug bust?"

"Oh, right." She clears her throat and straightens her posture. "There were twelve keys of coke unaccounted for, but we just got a warrant to search the dealer's apartment."

The sergeant nods his approval. "Good. Take Boyle, Santiago, and Diaz."

Charles raises his coffee cup. "Dream team." Seated at the back of the briefing room, Rosa narrows her eyes slightly at him.

"Peralta, brief us on the vandalism case."

Jake jumps up and walks to the front of the room. "Well, there's no easy way to put this, Sarge, but someone has been painting wieners on squad cars." Gina snickers. The television flicks through photos of gratified vehicles. "And apparently they won't stop until there's a penis drawn on every cop car in Brooklyn."

"Oh, that's what he's been drawing!" Hitchcock exclaims in realisation. His eyes narrow at the screen. "But what are those two little round things at the bottom?"

Kat places her head into her hands. "He's hopeless," she whispers.

"That's the butt," Scully replies.

"They're as bad as each other," Amy corrects quietly.

Jake shakes his head in disbelief. "The butt?"

"I assume you have a plan to catch this gentleman," Holt states.

Peralta points a finger at him with a smile. "Did you just say 'genital-man'? Because if so, kudos, and yes, I have a plan. I'm gonna plant a decoy squad car as bait." The screen flicks to a map of the neighbourhood. "Meanwhile, I'll be waiting in an undercover vehicle, here."

"He's already tagged three U/C vehicles," Terry points out. "He can clearly spot 'em. You should take my minivan," he decides.

"A minivan?" Rosa calls out incredulously. "A-ha!" Kat instantly grins at the sound of her laughter. The room breaks into chuckles.

With a scowl etched onto his face, Terry's eyes narrow. "You all got a problem with my minivan?" The laughter subsides and deadpanned faces take over wide smiles. "'Cause my wife doesn't like it either... She wanted an SUV, but those things roll, man," he tells Jake. "They roll!"

"That's a good idea, Sergeant," Holt agrees. "We'll take the van."

Jake frowns. "We? You're coming with me? Sir, with all due respect, I don't need backup," he counters.

"It's not backup. It's babysitting."

Kat's lips lift into a beaming grin. "Oh, dang."

"Babysitting," Rosa exclaims in amusement. "A-ha!"

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Two black coffees later, Katherine Linetti feels no less tired. She's not even drinking the caffeine anymore to try and give her more energy because that's clearly not working. It's an addiction. Once you get hooked onto the bitter, caramel taste, it's a habit to keep drinking it like water, even if you're not getting the supposed benefits.

Standing around and going through the files for their assigned case, Charles speaks up as he comes across something interesting. "Oh, look at this." The three women beside him look up from their own documents. "The drug dealer got a BA in art history from Brooklyn College." He tilts his head to the side. "Interesting, huh?"

"How's that interesting?" Rosa questions.

Boyle hesitates. "Well, it's surprising because you would think he had studied... drugs."

"Oh, man." Kat grimaces. "Come on."

"I studied art history, too," Amy announces with a proud smile.

"Also not interesting," Diaz retorts.

"No, no, very interesting," Kat reassures her best friend. Amy gives her a small, grateful smile. Rosa rolls her eyes.

Gina strolls over with a smile and swiftly interrupts the conversation. "Excuse me! I know I'm just a lowly civilian administrator, but I couldn't help overhearing you're looking for some missing drugs?"

The group of four look between the older Linetti sister and the woman standing beside her. Kat stares at the female in the pink shirt and tries to remember where she had seen her before. It takes her a few seconds. "Oh, my God," she blurts out. "Carlene!"

Amy raises her eyebrows. "Carlene?"

"Gina forced me to visit her a few years ago for a card reading about the future or whatever. Turns out, that psychic bullshit is exactly that. Bullshit." Carlene stares at her with a slightly irritated expression. Kat's blue eyes turn steely. "I wasted two-hundred dollars on that crap. Two-hundred dollars."

"My friend here, Carlene, is indeed a psychic, and a brilliant one at that. Ignore everything my sister just said because it's wrong. She walked out after a minute, so technically you wasted your own two-hundred dollars." Kat's jaw drops. Gina wraps an arm around Carlene and smiles once more. "Look, the point is, she's ready to help you."

Carlene opens her wallet and pulls out a business card. "I do palms, tarot, and I have a degree in numerology from the Internet." She passes the card to Charles who eagerly takes it.

"Bullshit," Kat murmurs.

Rosa nods in agreement with her. "Really, Gina?" she questions exasperatedly. "A psychic?"

"What? She's the real deal!" Gina looks over to her sister and blinks at her. Her smile returns when the blonde doesn't make a comment. "E.g., last week she predicted I would have a sensuous encounter with a guy named Mark. And I did."

"Wow. What luck," Kat deadpans. "It's not like Mark's one of the most popular names in the country." Amy laughs. Rosa cracks a smile.

"Kat, shut up. Seriously. Okay, she's had visions that, frankly, science cannot account for." Charles nods along at Gina's words in awe. "Also, she can get you amazing deals on ladies' footwear." Carlene smugly smiles. "She's Assistant Manager at Leonard's Designer Shoes." Amy looks between the two in boredom. She's clearly just as over this interaction as Kat and Rosa are.

Katherine arches a brow. "Are you sure she's not Assistant to the Regional Manager instead?" Rosa chuckles. The blonde waves a hand to her in appreciation when no one else reacts to her words. "Thank you, at least someone's on the same level as me."

Gina stares blankly at her sister. "How old are you? Seriously, how old are you?"

"Vision!" Carlene suddenly calls out. Her eyes are closed. "The drugs are in a location." Three of the four detectives watch in disbelief. "I see the colour blue..."

"She sees blue," Gina repeats theatrically.

"And yellow. And I see the letter L... R, S, T, W, E... and B." Carlene's eyes open.

Amy places a hand on her hip. "So basically everyone's first eight guesses in hangman?" Kat grins.

"Thank you, Carlene," Rosa adds with a smile. "Your entire life is garbage." The three women laugh together and walk off.

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Kat thinks this apartment is nicer than her own. No, it is nicer than her own. Without a doubt. The recently renovated place makes her eyes bulge out of jealously. It also happens to be the crime scene of their drug case. But who cares? A crime scene means that the sell price will be considerably lower than the rest of the nearby competitive market. It also just so happens that her friends think exactly the same as her.

"High ceilings, three bedrooms," Amy marvels, looking around the home enviously. "Why does every perp have a nicer place than I do?"

"You know what they don't teach you at the academy?" Rosa eyes the piece of art next to her. "That it's better to be a criminal."

Kat nods. "What are we doing with our lives? I'm seriously thinking about quitting and robbing banks instead." One of the uniformed officers a few metres away catches her words and eyes her distrustfully. She laughs it off. "No worries here, just joking around..." Amy chuckles at the way her smile drops in the speed of light the second she's no longer under scrutiny.

"Oh, no... The cabinets are blue," Charles exclaims, staring at the kitchen in worry.

"Oh, man, they're awful," Kat observes with a frown.

"And tacky," Amy agrees. Her head tilts to the side. "Not a deal breaker, though. I'd just repaint it."

Her best friend hums and glances over to her. "Wanna split half the asking price?" Kat asks seriously.

Amy grins. "Hell yeah," she confirms.

As the pair head into the bathroom to divide and conquer, Charles makes them both pause as he says, "The psychic predicted the drugs would be found in something blue." Kat briefly turns back to him. He seems visibly distressed. "She also made this really depressing prediction about my life."

The blonde frowns at him and begins inspecting the vicinity around the vanity. "Charles, I'm sure it can't be that bad," she tries to reassure. He's obviously invested in Carlene's scheme, so there's no point in denying him and ignoring his troubles.

"And if she's right about where we find the drugs, that means she's right about the other thing."

Amy's having none of it. "Uh huh." She pulls out her pocketknife and points it down the hall. "Kitchen," she tells him. Kat shrugs at the man when he looks to her. "Whoa," she suddenly says. The two detectives look back to her and see that she's pulled off a section of the baseboard. "Jackpot!"

Kat bends down next to her, and her eyes widen at the cocaine tightly packed inside the wall. "Holy shit, that's way more than twelve keys," she observes.

Rosa runs into the room. "Where was it?"

"Baseboard, behind the hamper."

As soon as he hears the words, Charles comes racing back over. "What colour was the hamper?" he questions frantically.

Kat hesitantly replies, "Green..."

He sighs in relief. "Yes! The clothes hamper was green." Then he exclaims, "The clothes hamper was green!" Charles points between the females with a pleased smile. "Drinks on me," he tells them whilst walking backward.

Rosa chuckles. "You're weird."

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Once they return to the precinct, it doesn't take long for Boyle to stride over to Gina with a smug attitude, determined to tell her that Carlene had been wrong. Naturally, wanting to stick it to her sister, Kat gleefully follows. Sure, she probably could be doing something more important... But this was one-hundred times better. "Gina! Oh, Gina," she calls out across the bullpen. Her sister looks up from her phone and watches them approach her.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your friend's predictions about the drug case were wrong," Charles states proudly. "Which means-" He leans forward on the desk. "-all of her predictions are wrong."

Gina's eyes flick to her sister. "Seriously?"

"I've never been more serious about anything in my life."

The woman rolls her eyes. "Mm-mm. No way," she denies. "She's never wrong."

Charles places his hands on his hips and his lips upturn further. "We found the cocaine behind a green hamper. Never said green, or the letter H."

Gina hums in an almost patronising matter. Kat's smile slowly begins to fade. "She said 'blue' and 'yellow,' Charles," she points out. "I don't know if there's any kindergarteners present, but those two colours combined make-"

"Green," Kat finishes with a groan. "Crap."

Gina's not finished. "She also mentioned the letters L and B." Charles shrugs, not finding the comment meaningful. "And another name for a hamper is..."

"Lady... bin...?" Gina waits for the realisation to sink in. Charles' face falls. "Laundry basket," he hisses. Kat slumps down into a nearby chair.

"Oh, little boo-boo. Can you go be depressed over there?" Gina waves a hand over to his desk. She raises an eyebrow at her sister. "You're both bummin' out my whole area." Charles walks off with his lips dipped into such a large frown, his colleagues are worried it might become permanent. Once he's out of earshot, Gina adds, "Why so glum, Kitty Kat? You should be the happy one here."

She looks over to her sister with confusion. "Huh?"

"Oh, you don't know, that's right... Carlene said Rosa doesn't love Charles back, and that she will never love him back." The blonde continues to look at her with an unamused face. "Are you kidding me? This means you have a chance with her!"

"Gina."

"I'm serious! You get your chance to get your fruity on with her!"

"Gina."

"Fine. You're so in denial, you're pretty much in denial about being in denial."

She almost smiles. Kat moves the chair closer to her sister's desk. Gina actually puts down her phone. "Please, can we just stop with the whole Rosa thing?" She keeps her voice quiet in case of any unintentional eavesdroppers. "I don't have a thing for her, never have had a thing for her, and never will have a thing for her. She's a friend, and that's all she'll ever be. Plus, I'm pretty sure she's straight."

Gina makes a face at her words. She reaches out a hand to touch the younger woman's cheek. "Wow, this is incredible. I'm thinking I should call the Oscars and tell them to consider you for this year." Kat rolls her eyes again. Gina becomes serious. Katherine's eyes widen in surprise; this rarely happens. "Look, you're my sister and I love you, but, Kat, your life is so sad. Like, it actually physically pains me just to think about it."

"Wow, okay, tell me how you really feel," she murmurs in offence.

"What I'm trying to say is, by continuing to deny you don't even feel slightly attracted to her, you're only making yourself more miserable." Gina gives her a sad smile. "I don't like seeing you miserable, Kitty Kat."

She looks down. "Thanks, Gines."

She doesn't need to say anything else. They both know. Gina smiles at her. This time it's softer. "Love you, Katie," she says.

The younger Lenetti clears her throat and stands up. "Love you, too, Nina." Gina's smile widens at the childhood nickname. Kat reciprocates it. "Thanks," she adds.

"Now go tell Charles to stop wallowing at his desk, because even from over here he's still severely affecting my mood."

"And she's back."

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"Twenty-point-two kilos," Amy states. She pauses for a second and studies the scales with the drugs on top. She looks to the other three detectives in the room with her as she adds, "I feel like we could round up to twenty-one." 

"Or we could round down to twenty, take the extra zero-point-two, sell it to our friends..." The four all turn to stare at Gina. Seemingly not fazed under the scrutiny, she laughs to play her words off like a joke.

Her sister rolls her eyes. Kat genuinely wouldn't be surprised if Gina did eventually steal something from the evidence locker without anyone in the precinct knowing. After all, if anyone could do it? It was her.

Amy sighs. "I'll call the DA. Kat, Rosa, log this in." They share a brief look with one another and nod. "Charles..." The dark-haired woman glances back over to the civilian administrator leaning on a shelf. "Maybe watch Gina." Said female quietly giggles again.

Grabbing one of the forms needed to fill out to file the drugs into the evidence system, Kat tries to ignore the conversation between Charles and Rosa. It's awkward, to say the least. Especially with Gina here, too. Diaz looks up from sticking labels. "So, what're you doing tonight?"

"Nothing," he quickly replies. He timidly continues, "What about you... are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing."

Kat sighs. If only she could write faster. Out the corner of her eye she spots her sister holding up a violet business card; the one from earlier. "Carlene," Gina whispers emphatically to Boyle.

Shaking his head but ultimately agreeing with the conversation he had with the siblings earlier, Charles clears his throat. "Whelp, I hope you find something to do!" He laughs awkwardly when Rosa looks at him strangely. She turns to Kat. The woman shrugs in return. "I'm gonna pee. That's what I'm doing tonight! Nope..." He walks out the room and Gina gives her sister another pointed look before following suit.

The remaining detectives work in silence for the next five minutes. It proves to be far more efficient than gossiping at the same time. But it's not that either of them wants to get out as soon as possible, there's just almost... a comfort they find in the silence. It's a comfortable silence. There's no need to talk.

Rosa eventually breaks it. She clears her throat and scans another label. "So, what about you?"

Kat hums as she looks up from the paperwork. "Sorry?"

"I mean, what are you doing tonight?"

Her lips lift into a small smile. "Uh, well, I gotta pick up my dog from the vet, so probably just staying at home."

Rosa purses her lips together and the scanner beeps. "Oh..." She looks up to her colleague again. "Is your dog okay?"

"I think so," Katherine answers. "He ate some pizza..." Rosa raises her eyebrows at her. "It was an accident," she quickly defends herself.

"Well, uh, if you ever need help..." She avoids eye contact. "I'm happy to- I don't really know what dogs need... walk him if you're away or something?"

"That'd be nice." Kat glances down to the form and tries to hide her growing smile. "Thanks."

"Don't sweat it."

They finish the rest of the evidence logs in silence.

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Now back in the briefing room, Jake explains his current dilemma over his recent arrest. Captain Holt thinks the perp should be processed, however, Jake thinks they should let him walk. Oh, and the perp so happens to be the Deputy Police Commissioner's son. "So here are my options. One, I process Podolski's kid, he fires me, and I spend the rest of my career as a detective, third grade, which is literally pathetic. No offence, Hitchcock."

The man at the back of the room shrugs. "None taken."

"Option two, I let him walk, and I spend the rest of my life with Holt as my babysitter. Honestly, when I think about spending the rest of my life with a babysitter, she's kind of a cute blonde named Erica, and she always has pizza money and lets me stay up as late as I want."

Amy looks severely unimpressed. "How old are you in this scenario?"

Kat clicks her tongue. "Technically, nine." She arches a brow at Jake. "Are you seriously still hung up on her? She quit after a week of looking after you."

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, 'cause she wasn't good enough to handle me."

She tilts her head to the side. "No, she quit because you put hair-removal cream in her moisturiser," she corrects. Rosa barks a laugh.

"In my defence, nine year old me had some incredible pranks." Jake waits until Kat shrugs in agreement. "Anyways. The point is, Holt cares more about whether I..." He makes quotation marks in the air and lowers his voice to mimic their captain's. "... 'do my job right,' than whether I have a job at all." He spread his arms. "So I'm taking suggestions."

"I say piss off Holt," Amy answers with a pleased tone. "So then we get to watch your career end right in front of us."

"Okay, thank you for that, Santiago." He turns to the whiteboard behind him and places a mark into the 'DONT ARREST' column within the table. "I'm gonna put you down for 'don't arrest,' I'm also gonna put your phone number on every urinal in Rikers." Kat stifles her laughter.

"Don't arrest him," Rosa voices. "Just smack him. Hard. With a phone book on a body part no one can see, you know what I'm saying?" The blonde seated beside her turns to look at her in disbelief.

Jake raises his eyebrows. "So you're suggesting police brutality?"

"Ha, ha, I guess so, yeah." Her smile drops. "Why?"

"Hey, Scully," Jake calls out, spotting the detective walking past the briefing room's open door.

"Yeah?"

"You want this collar?" He spreads his arms, trying to entice the man in as best as he can. "Paperwork's all done and it's perfect!"

"The Podolski kid?" Peralta nods. "Are you kidding? I just gave him my lunch," Scully confesses.

"Okay... Boyle, what do you think?"

Charles shakes his head to himself. "I don't know, man. I'm lost... The universe is a cruel and vexing puzzle."

"Amen," Kat confirms.

Boyle sighs. "I'm at the whim of the cosmos."

"All right, I'm gonna put you down for bummer," Jake replies, creating a new column in the table with the aforementioned title. "And you can hang out in that category all by yourself. Kitty Kat, please help me out here. You've gotta be my saving grace."

She gives him a small smile. "I mean, just do whatever you think is right. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what Holt thinks." Amy gasps. "Just trust your gut. 'Cause your-"

"-gut is always right," he finishes for her. He smiles. "Thanks."

"Hey, everyone," Gina interrupts. She leans on the frame of the door to the room and the employees inside turn to her. "Hey, Jake, there is a very sexy, angry official here, Deputy Commissioner Podolski." Peralta throws his head back and quietly groans. "He's asking for you, very angry. Elderly, sexy, furious."

"Well, my career is over," Jake concludes grimly. "See you at the bottom, Hitchcock," he says whilst walking past the man. "No offence."

"No, none taken."

Spinning around in her chair, Kat calls out, "Good luck!" Without turning back, Jake holds up his hand and gives her a thumbs up.

Rosa waits until he's gone before she asks, "So, do we have any proof of the hairless babysitter?"

Kat grins. "It's gotta be on a tape in a box somewhere at my mom's place... I'll bring it in next week."

Santiago leans back in her chair and exhales a large sigh. "Suddenly my year just got a whole lot better."

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After getting permission from Holt to leave early to care for her beloved animal, Kat avoids all and every form of work during the last hour of her shift. She likes to think she's mastered the art of procrastination over her years. Currently, that procrastination included pretending to type out documents on her computer (she was pressing random keys) whilst listening to Jake and the Deputy Commissioner's conversation next to her. Sometimes she hates sharing a desk with her two best friends; the rivalry and endless bickering pisses her off. But other times... Other times, she's glad she can be there when something like this goes down.

"Trevor, what'd you do this time?"

Trevor Podolski dons an innocent expression and stands up from his chair to greet his father. "Nothing," he states. Kat raises her eyebrows but keeps her eyes glued to her screen.

"There you have it," Pedolski tells Jake. "He said he did nothing."

Peralta locks eyes with his best friend over the father and son's backs. "So I caught him red-handed doing nothing?" he counters back with a smile.

"I'm saying it's a possibility you made a mistake."

Kat looks up from her computer. Her eye twitches. It's men like these that remind her of why she hates majority of the species.

Jake takes a deep breath and tries to keep things light. "You know, normally I would agree with you, but I've been pretty detail-oriented the last few hours."

"You might not understand this, but Trevor is a special kid." The teenage bashfully looks down to the ground. "He makes straight As. He's going to Duke next year. Lacrosse scholarship."

"Oh."

"Sometimes, boys just need to be boys."

Katherine's jaw clenches. She didn't think that coming to work today would end with her wanting to punch the Deputy Police Commissioner of the NYPD. And she wants to do it badly. Jake remembers her words from earlier and continues to counter the man with solid arguments. "You do realise he did thousands of property damage, though? To police vehicles?"

Pedolski's not having any of it. "Look, I think we can all agree that I'm ordering you to let this slide." Jake's eyebrows raise. "Because nothing happened." Kat and Terry lock eyes in disbelief across the room. "This is officially out of your hands."

Jake raises a hand to stop him from walking away. "Would you actually mind just checking out my report?" He grabs the file and smiles. "It's pretty thorough and I spent over an hour on fonts. Kinda snazzy, so..."

"Oh, thank you. I'll get right to it."

"Thanks."

"Trevor, let's go."

"Have a good one!"

As the father and son walk past Terry's desk, Pedolski drops Jake's report into the trashcan. Kat's jaw finally drops. Terry's hand freezes in the air, his spoonful of yoghurt halfway to his mouth. Jake glances between the two and grits his teeth together. "Oh, my God, I don't think I've ever wanted to commit a crime more than right now," she admits. "That was..."

"Aggravating? Frustrating? Annoying?" Jake suggests impatiently.

She nods. "All of the above."

With a huff, Peralta strides forward and fishes the report out of the trashcan. He grimaces at the yoghurt decorating the back and front. "Great..."

"What're you gonna do?"

He turns to Kat and purses his lips. "I'm gonna make some phone calls to some precincts and get some dirt on this little shit."

She grins. "That's the best idea you've had all day," she tells him.

"All my ideas are the best!"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Upon getting home with Bear safe and sound, happily eating away at his dinner, Kat had received word that Jake had made the call to go through with the arrest on Trevor Podolski. He had listened to his gut after all. Even if there might be consequences to the decision in the future, it was the right call. A tough call, but the right one. She was proud of him.

The following day, she's a little confused as to why Jake's not at the morning briefing on time. She'd been assuming that he would enter the room with a smugness because he had arrested the Deputy Police Commissioner's son. Apparently, she had assumed wrong. So she stands listening to Charles and Gina gossip. The topic of conversation is, of course, Carlene. To Kat's amusement, Boyle is once again telling her sister that the psychic was wrong. "Rosa said it herself, I'm in charge of my own destiny," he says. "That means she wants me to make a move."

The siblings share a look. "Mm, but Carlene was also right," Gina retorts. "You did get hurt 'cause Rosa punched you, and the fact that Rosa punched you means she does not like you."

"Yeah, this isn't kindergarten where the boys tug on the girls' hair 'cause they secretly like them," Kat explains. Gina points to her in agreement.

Charles shakes his head. He's adamant that Rosa has some sort of romantic feelings for him. "No, no, she punched me to prove Carlene wrong."

"Move!"

As soon as the word leaves Diaz's mouth, Charles moves his body to let her walk into the room. Kat raises her eyebrows. "Oh, wait, I take it back," Gina quickly says. "She definitely is into you."

"Pfft, yeah, there's so much chemistry," Kat adds. Both women are surprised he can't detect the sarcasm seeping off their words. "An explosion of chemistry."

Charles nods. "I know, it's crazy!"

"All right, let's get this meeting started," Captain Holt announces.

Kat slips into her seat beside Amy. She's still surprised Jake hasn't shown up. "Hey, have you seen Pera-"

"I'm not late," a voice calls out, immediately followed by a yawn. The entire room looks to the army-green tent housed in the corner. "I'm here!" The tent unzips and Jake pokes his head out as his watch beeps. Dressed in light blue, striped pyjamas, the man stumbles out and stops by Holt at the podium.

Kat bites onto her lip to contain her laughter. Turns out she was right after all. "Morning, sunshine!"

He blindly waves a hand in her direction. "Right on time," Jake observes as he looks down to his watch. He sleepily smiles at their captain.

Holt looks him up and down. "You're out of uniform, Peralta."

"Baby steps, Captain." Jake pats his shoulder. Holt's mouth falls open. "Baby steps."

𝘗𝘓𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘌 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘯𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 1 𝘎𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘪𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴... 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘒𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦.

𝘈𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯, 𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴?

𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴,
𝘓𝘪𝘷 𝘹𝘹