CHAPTER SEVEN | FOREVER

vii. the one with the halloween heist

          HALLOWEEN HAD ALWAYS BEEN ONE of Kat's favourite holidays. It was a day where she didn't really have to take anyone seriously, even at work. Or maybe she did have to take people seriously, but the ridiculous costumes and behaviour made it incredibly hard to. It was also one of the few times during the year where it was certain that crime would increase. Majorly. People were intoxicated, on drugs, or decided to do a stupid dare to impress their friends. It's not even midday, and there's already a dozen people in the holding cell.

She sips from her coffee mug as she watches uniformed officers walk a pair of perps in horse costumes over to the cell. Naturally, they're putting up a fight as they go. Her eyes widen as one of the men successfully kicks the other's shoulder. "This just got interesting," she observes. Jake, seated at his desk beside her, hears the comment and chuckles.

Amy manages to weave her way past them without getting hit in the crossfire and sighs in frustration. "Ugh, Halloween is the worst," she announces. She approaches her desk-mates and shakes her head. "Everyone's drunk, wearing a mask, and carrying a fake gun. Plus, all the girls think they have to dress sexy."

Kat props her chin up on her hand. "Yeah, that's the horrible part," she says with a smile.

Jake points to her in agreement. "Please make them stop," he adds sarcastically. They share a giggle.

Amy is far from amused. "I passed a slutty tree on the way here," she tells them exasperatedly. "Who wants to have sex with a tree?"

Scully looks up from tying his shoelaces. "Was it a maple?" he asks.

Jake's brows raise as he points his pen over to the man. "Was it a maple?" Amy scowls at them both and returns to her desk in silence.

"Buon giorno, buon giorno," Charles calls out as he skips over. Kat smiles at his bright copper wig and chef's whites. His holds his arms out as he looks between his friends. "Pretty cool 'stume, huh?"

The blonde-haired detective raises a brow. "'Stume?" she repeats.

"Short for costume," he explains with a shrug.

"Ah. All right, let us guess," Jake says eagerly. He squints his eyes for a second. "You are dumpy Chuck Norris."

Boyle closes his eyes in annoyance. "No, I'm—"

"The guy from Ratatouille!" Kat states. She frowns at Charles' blank stare. "He's the only chef I know..."

"Dumpy Ron Weasley," Rosa guesses as she joins the conversation.

"No!"

"You guys," Terry interjects with a sigh. "Stop it. He put thought into his costume," Charles vigorously nods his head, "and he is obviously Miranda from Sex and the City."

"Guys, I'm Mario Batali!" Boyle states passionately. He takes in all their confused expressions. "'Molto Mario?' Celebrity chef? Ginger Prince of little Italy?" He grins and lowers himself into a bow.

"Is he also a homeless troll doll?" Jake retorts, unable to hide his smile. "'Cause you look like a homeless troll doll." Charles huffs a sigh.

One of the perps being walked into the holding cell notices their gathering and yells, "Hey, sweet Batali costume, dude!"

"Thank you!" Charles points to him with his wooden spoon, thrilled that someone knows what he's talking about. "There's a man with impeccable taste!"

Jake glances down to his clipboard and kisses his teeth. "He bit a guy's butt off at a WNBA game," he reveals nonchalantly. Amy grimaces. His eyes suddenly widen as he looks back up to Charles. "Eric Stoltz from Mask!"

By now, Charles has lost any hope he once had a minute ago. "I'll take it," he mutters in defeat.

Shortly after, everyone is called into the briefing room for the second meeting of the day. Kat finds her place beside Rosa. She's recently noticed that it seems like there's always an empty seat beside Diaz whenever she walks into the room. She isn't complaining, though. She likes Rosa's company, even if they normally just sit together in complete silence.

With his hands resting on the podium, Terry looks out across the room as he addresses them. "I hope you're all well rested," he begins. Kat grimaces. "It's gonna be a busy night."

Jake leans back in his chair and breathes a tired sigh. "The holding cell's completely full. I keep having to separate Hillary Clinton and Kim Jong-Un."

Holt looks up from his clipboard. "We need two undercovers at the Dekalb Street warehouse party." He hesitates for a second as he looks around the room. "Boyle, you're already in costume as, uh, Joy Behar?" Jake grins.

"I'm Mario Batali," Charles speaks through gritted teeth.

"Okay... And, uh, Santiago. You go with him."

"Yes, sir," Amy replies. She closes her eyes in frustration. "Damn it," she mutters.

Kat reaches forward and places a hand on her friend's shoulder. "If I could take your place, I would."

"Linetti, are you volunteering yourself to go with them?" Holt calls out.

"Sorry, sir, but I'd rather jump in front of a moving vehicle than attend a rave," she responds. Rosa pauses for a second, then nods along in agreement with her.

"Santiago," Charles begins, determined to change her mind. "I know that you hate Halloween, but stick with me, and I promise you, you will love it."

Amy, the opposite of confident, turns to meet his eyes. "Can you magically make everyone, kind, sober, and fully dressed?"

Without a beat passing, Jake takes the opportunity to call out his arch nemesis. Again. "'Kind, sober, and fully dressed.'" His smile widens. "Good news, everyone! We found the title of Santiago's sex tape."

Even Kat can't help but laugh, and when Amy whirls around to her with a scowl that could rival one of Rosa's, her eyes widen in alarm, and she quickly covers her mouth as she coughs.

Kat and Amy are sharing the latter's desk as they discuss paperwork relating to a case that they had closed together the other day when Jake enters the bullpen, smugness seeping off his figure. Followed closely behind him is someone dressed in a banana costume being walked to the, still very full, holding cell. "Well, ring it up, nerds!" he announces. "I just arrested my first Halloween idiot of the season."

He throws the arrest file onto his desk, Kat arching a brow. "What'd the banana do?" she asks curiously. Charles, Terry, and Rosa have turned their attention to the conversation.

Jake leans against his desk as he answers her. "He was trying to rob a bank, but he had a little trouble with the getaway." He crosses his arms over his jacket and shakes his head. "He got dye-packed."

She hums. "I guess the money was just too a-peeling for him."

He snorts. "Oh, how I love you," he states proudly.

"That was horrible," Rosa says. Kat rolls her eyes, though she notices Rosa's small smile.

"I swear, these perps are so stupid," Peralta remarks in amusement. "I'd make a better criminal than any of them."

Charles points his wooden spoon to his friend. "Yeah, you would," he confirms, more than eager to hype him up. "You'd be an evil mastermind! And everyone would call you The Handsome Bandit."

"Thank you, Charles. And the best part is, none of you could catch me."

As the squad erupts with various protests, Amy and Kat share a look at his confident words. It's safe to say no one agrees with him. Including Holt. "I'm fairly certain you would be caught," the captain counters. "No, scratch that. I'm one-hundred percent sure you'd be caught."

Jake pushes himself off the desk with a smile. "Ho, ho, ho! All right, challenge accepted."

"I didn't issue a challenge."

"Fine, I'll issue it for you. What's the most valuable thing in your office?"

Raymond glances to the open door of his office as he lowers his coffee cup from his lips. "My medal of valour," he reveals.

Jake rolls his eyes in annoyance. "God, you are such a hero. All right, how about this?" He takes a step closer to Holt as he proposes his idea. "I will bet you that by midnight tonight, I can steal the medal of valour from your office."

"Dude, why would he agree to that?" Katherine asks with squinted eyes.

Holt nods to her in agreement, eyes flicking back to Jake. "Yes," he says flatly. "Why would I possibly agree to that?"

"Because if I lose, I'll work the next five weekends, no overtime." The rest of the squad are listening closely, each interested to see how this will play out. "And I won't tell anyone here about the time I saw you wearing short shorts outside of work. But if I win—"

"You won't win," Holt interrupts firmly.

"You have to do all of my paperwork tonight, the busiest and spookiest night of the year. And you have to publicly state that I'm an amazing detective-slash-genius."

The captain tilts his head slightly as he studies Jake Peralta in thought. "And this won't interfere with you doing your job?" he raises his concerns.

"You mean my job as an amazing detective-slash-genius?" Jake grins, then it quickly disappears as he tries to remain serious. "No, it will not. I'll do all of my work, guaranteed."

"I'm considering it." Holt stares at him for a long moment, weighing the countless possibilities out in his head. "I'm interested," he says. "I agree to participate."

Kat eyes widen. "Oh, I did not see this coming," she says in surprise.

"All right!" Jake exclaims enthusiastically. With a wide grin, he leans forward, outstretching his hand to be shaken. "There's the robot I fell in love with."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Detective Peralta hadn't been seen for an hour. Kat doesn't know whether to make that as a good thing or not. She imagines him in a dark closet with his hands clasped together as he creates a maniacal plan for the heist that is ongoing. Unless she's absolutely certain that he's going to win, she wants no part in it.

"Hey, Sarge," she calls out. Terry looks up from his pile of paperwork as she approaches him. "Want some yoghurt? I didn't have mine for lunch."

His eyes light up as she brings her hand hidden behind her back into view. "Terry loves yoghurt," he says with a smile.

She chuckles as he eagerly snatches the container out of her hand. And then her eyes catch something interesting. She nudges Terry's arm as they watch Rosa walk into the bullpen after a man dressed as a nun. "Hey," Diaz calls out to them. The man takes the seat beside Terry. "Sister Steve here got mugged. Some guy dressed as the royal baby punched him and took his wallet."

Kat's brows raise in amusement as Rosa breaks into laughter at the situation. The victim looks between Katherine and Terry as he says, "She keeps laughing at me."

With a hum, Kat nods her head. "Yeah, that tracks," she admits. Terry lets out a tired, exasperated sigh.

"Can't tell you how many nuns I wanted to beat up in Catholic school," Rosa states lowly.

"All of them?" Kat predicts with squinted eyes.

Rosa gives her a curt nod. "All ten."

Terry's eyebrows furrow as he leans back in his chair. "I didn't know you went to Catholic school," he says in thought. He glances to the detective stood beside him. "Did you?"

Kat shrugs. "I know as much about her as anyone of you do," she says pointedly.

"Good," Rosa nods, satisfied with the answer. "You shouldn't know anything."

"I get it," Terry begins. "You're so mysterious and tough." Rosa shifts her weight as she stares at him. "But you know what I think? You're actually a big softy."

"No, I think she's really mean," the victim corrects.

Kat shakes her head with a smile. "Nah, she's a big softy." Rosa raises a brow, as silently challenging her. "You just need someone to bring it out of you."

As Terry and Kat both nod together, they miss how Rosa's eyes linger on Kat's face. "You probably read a Maya Angelou poem at your graduation and cried," the sergeant presumes with a snicker.

"Didn't graduate. Had to leave."

Kat's smile widens. "See, now we know two things about you that no one else does."

However, Terry is focused on getting even further answers out of her. "Why?" he presses inquisitively. "What'd you do?"

Katherine's eyes suddenly widen. Her voice drops to a hesitant whisper. "Did you burn down a church?" she asks.

"Here's a hint." Rosa leans over the victim to get closer to her colleagues. "I'm not gonna tell you." Her eyes slowly move over to Kat. "Either of you."

The blonde-haired woman folds her arms across her leather jacket and grins. "Oh, you'll tell us," she declares. "I'll get it out of you somehow." The corners of Rosa's lips quirk up ever so slightly.

Terry holds out his arms as he looks at Diaz, smugness and determination etched onto his face. "Yeah, we're gonna find out anyway!" She scoffs at their confidence—really determination—and walks away. "We're detectives!" Terry yells as he wraps an arm around Kat's shoulders. "We will detect!"

It's only a few minutes after returning to her desk that Katherine Linetti hears a disturbance from within Captain Holt's office that has its door closed. She rolls her chair over to Gina's desk where she finds her sister making paper airplanes out of what she assumes is incredibly important documents.

Without speaking a word, they turn their chairs toward the office and listen to what occurs next. "Are you in my ceiling, Peralta," they hear Holt call out.

Kat's eyes widen as she glances to her sister in disbelief. "He's in the ceiling?" she hisses.

Gina clicks her tongue. "Oh, yeah," she confirms with a nod. "He did not look pretty climbing up there." She reaches over to the phone on her desk and presses a button.

Kat looks back to her in surprise as they suddenly have a clear sound of what is happening inside. "Are you on a phone call with Holt?" she whispers incredulously.

"Have been all day. You never know what juicy good gossip he has."

"Does he know?"

Gina chuckles and gently pats her cheek. "Honey, do you take me as an amateur?"

"So, what's the plan?" Holt asks, visibly bored and uninterested. "You wait for me to leave my office, lower yourself down, take my medal, and win the bet?"

"He can't be that stupid," Kat remarks.

Gina looks to her for a split-second before returning her gaze to the window. "Have you met that kid?" she retorts, tone pointed as if to her remind her of all of Jake Peralta's flaws.

"Who are you talking to?" Jake calls out, voice muffled. Kat stifles her laughter. "There's no one up here!"

"Peralta, just so you know, right now, I am taking my medal off the wall and placing it in a locked safe whose combination is known only to me. The safe, in turn, is locked in the cabinet. The only key to that cabinet is on my person. I'm off to my meeting. Good luck with your plan."

Just as they see Holt's silhouette approach the door, Gina silences the volume on the call. Holt meets their watchful eyes as he exits the office, but doesn't comment on the fact that he knows they had been listening the entire time.

"You think that scares me?" Jake yells after the captain. "I laugh in the face of adversity!" The second the captain walks away, Gina returns the volume to the ongoing call. "Are you still there?" they hear Jake say. "Captain, are you still there? I can't hear—"

Kat jumps up off her chair in horror as she watches Jake tumble down out of the ceiling and land roughly on the ground, taking plaster and construction materials with him.

Gina winces. "Honestly, that went exactly as expected," she states, deadpanned.

Seven o'clock.

Amy and Charles return to the precinct early from their rave covered from head to toe in egg yolk and shells. Kat grimaces as she plucks out a piece of shell from Amy's back. "This is disgusting," she mutters.

"I know," Amy agrees, closing her eyes as her best friend peels dried egg yolk out of her hair.

"What happened?" Jake frowns as he spots the recently returned detectives. He waves a hand at the concerned look Kat throws him. She had stated before that she strongly believes he has a concussion, something Rosa had also agreed with. But of course, his ego had stopped him from going to the hospital. "I thought you guys were supposed to be at the warehouse party."

"We got egged," Amy mutters with a scowl. "Some of the shell got in my contacts, and my hair, and my mouth, and my bra."

Jake tilts his head. "I can't tell if that's hot or not."

"Not hot. Eggshell in my bra is not hot."

"Well, it's kinda hot," he replies with a shrug. He leans toward her slightly as he grins. "Boobs go in a bra." He holds his hand up to her, but she only stares back at him blankly. Charles whoops and high-fives him instead. "Whoo! My man. Kat, come on! That's totally something you'd laugh at."

Jake's eyes widen a fraction at how her expression is a mirror image of Santiago's. "Not when it's directed to my best friend," Katherine retorts with narrowed eyes.

"Well, it sounds like costume duty is going great."

"So great," Charles confirms with a pleased smile. Even though they had hit a roadblock, his enthusiasm to try and change Amy's mind about Halloween hasn't faltered. "We're having the best time. Right, Amy?"

"I wish I was dead," she says with a small, forced smile. "How's the unwinnable bet going?"

Kat rolls her eyes as she finishes removing as much eggshell as she can off the woman. "Oh, don't bother asking," she says, waving a hand in dismissal.

Jake sighs. "Well, on the one hand, I fell through the ceiling and onto a pencil, but on the other hand..." He gestures his hands to Kat and Rosa. "They think I have badly bruised my brain."

"Not think," Kat corrects impatiently. "You have."

Rosa looks up from the file she and Terry are reading for her mugging victim. "If you wanted to make a bet with Holt, you should've made a bet you could win," she tells him. "Like who wears more denim jackets."

"That was one time," Jake defends himself. He shakes his head. "You guys never forget anything. You know, frankly, I'm a little surprised you don't think I can win this thing. You're always telling me how I'm the best." They all stare at him. "Yeah, okay, maybe it's just Charles."

Terry sighs softly and moves to stand in from of him. "Jake, I love you like you're one of my daughters," he admits.

The detective's brows shoot up in surprise. "Really?"

"But it's not about you or how smart you are. It's about Captain Holt. The man's a genius. He's had your number at every turn."

"Well." Jake's lips curl into a smirk. "Not this day—turn—time..." Terry looks at him strangely. "Sorry, Rosie, Katie, you're right, I have a concussion! Here I come."

Kat pinches the bridge of her nose as she watches Terry catch Jake as he falls into his arms. "All right," the sergeant sighs.

He lifts Jake up onto his chair who smiles loopily. "Ooh, strong..."

After promising her that he would lay on the couch in the break room for a little while, Kat hesitantly leaves Jake alone to help Terry assist Rosa on her ongoing case. They're led into the line-up room where Rosa orders for the group of men dressed as royal babies to enter.

The victim, still in his nun costume, stands with the detectives staring out the window to try and identify his attacker amongst the giant babies.

"Okay, here's the first set of royal babies I rounded up," Rosa begins. "Popular costume. Any of these guys look familiar?"

"Maybe the third guy," the man says slowly, unsure. "The baby who mugged me was pretty short." Kat shares a look with Terry when Rosa snickers. He throws his hands up in annoyance as he glances back to her. "You're not supposed to laugh at me."

"Number three," Rosa speaks into the microphone. She looks to the report in her hand. "Step forward and say, 'Give me your money, you stupid bag of crap.''"

Kat kisses her teeth. "Criminals are just getting more and more creative," she observes dryly. "Wow."

The royal baby moves up to the line on the ground. "Gimme your money, you stupid bag of crap," he repeats.

The victim looks to Rosa and shakes his head. "No, wrong giant baby."

His head snaps over to Katherine when she quietly laughs. "Sorry," she says. "It's just, this whole thing is hilarious..."

Terry rolls his eyes. With his arms crossed, he turns his attention onto Diaz. "I still want to know why you got kicked out of Catholic school," he reminds her. He spots Kat's raised hand. "We both want to know. Were you doing drugs?"

Her eyes remain on the glass as she responds, "Worse."

Kat's eyebrows furrow. "Selling drugs?"

Rosa finally looks over to her. "Worse," she repeats.

"How bad could it have been?" Terry asks. His eyes widen. "Was Kat right? Did you burn down a church?"

She walks over and presses the intercom button. "Number three, step forward and say the word, 'worse.'" As she says the last word, she slowly turns her head over to her colleagues.

The royal baby steps forward again. "Worse," he calls out. Rosa points to him with a smile.

"Damn," Kat whispers. "What the hell could be worse than burning down a church?"

Nine-thirty.

They're well into the night now. Amy and Charles return from the rave, however, Charles soon realises that it's actually Hitchcock underneath the skeleton suit, and that Amy had paid him in order to get out of 'celebrating' Halloween.

With all her paperwork completed and up to date, Kat sits with Gina at her sister's desk as they play a game of Uno to pass the time. Their conversations include Jake's two attempts to distract Captain Holt over the last hour: feeding bird feathers into the office, and trying to pose as a janitor to then set off a 'poorly timed' explosion.

Of course, what Raymond Holt doesn't know is that neither of the attempts had really failed. It was all a part of Jake's ruse to live up to the expectation Holt had of him—that he wasn't going to be able to pull this off.

The entire squad, except Gina, had been in on Jake's plan since he had appealed to them earlier, eventually promising with a hand over his heart that he would do all their paperwork. And since Holt would be doing all of his paperwork if he won...

The sisters look up from their game of cards as Jake drops down into the chair beside Gina's desk. "Well, I was gonna ask you to tell the captain that I brought in the royal babies for Diaz, but I'm sure he already knows, since he's always one step ahead of me." He turns to face the window of Holt's office and waves to him.

With the hand that isn't holding the phone up to his ear, Raymond waves back to him.

"Aw, why so down, little clown?" Gina asks.

Kat refrains from rolling her eyes. She knows Gina is currently on a phone call with Holt, hence, the captain can hear everything they're saying. But because she's trying to be a double agent for Jake, she doesn't reveal the fact to him just yet because, well, she would lose her trust in Gina and Holt.

"I'm just sick of losing to Holt," Jake tells them, teeth grinding together in frustration. "I want that medal."

"It's not real gold," Gina points out quietly. "I tried selling it online. Zero bids."

Kat smiles. She's not even surprised. "Only you would try and do that."

Gina beams, taking the statement as a praise. "But here's some advice I gave to the girls in my dance troupe at the 'Dance Till You Drop' tournament. That advice was dance!" she exclaims passionately. "Dance! Dance."

"Yeah, I'm not really sure that applies here, Gina," Jake tells her with a frown.

"It does apply," the older Linetti argues. "It means don't give up. We would've won if Natasha's water hadn't broken."

Kat sighs as she reminisces the night. "Yeah, it was a great performance, too." Gina nods sombrely. "Not that I'm not happy for Natasha, though."

Jake's brows shoot up as he realises that he knows exactly who they're both talking about. "Oh, Natasha had her baby?"

"You know Natasha?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah!"

All three then simultaneously say, "Her dog has lupus!"

"Wow."

"That's a trip."

"Small world." Jake is silent for a few moments before he sighs in defeat and stands up. "All right, I'm gonna go cry."

The sisters share a look. Gina leans over to the phone's speaker so Holt can hear her quietly say, "I kind of feel bad for him."

"Me too, Captain," Kat agrees. "This is sad."

"Don't. He brought this on himself. You can hang up now, Gina."

The blonde winces. "Harsh."

"But an effective way to win," Gina counters with a smirk.

Half an hour passes, in which Jake uses the time to find a velvet cape and crown to adorn his head. Kat shakes her head as she watches him gather a group of men he had hired to dress up as royal babies.

Phase four of the extensive master plan to steal Holt's medal of valour begins.

"Oh, Captain Holt," he calls out playfully. "Can you come out here for one sec?"

A few moments later, Holt walks out into the bullpen, making sure to lock the door to his office behind him. They all eye how his keys snap back to the ring attached to his belt.

He turns around and examines the group of costumes. "You need something, Peralta?" he calls out questioningly.

Mischief glints in Jake's eyes. "Yes, I do," he confirms. "Hit it, royal babies!"

And so the mob of royal babies quickly spread out, each throwing their own set of keys up into the air in a practised dance routine.

Kat sits back on her desk beside Amy as they linger in the background; one of them has already completed their role of the night, and the other is tasked for soon.

Of course, one of the royal babies doesn't hide how he cuts the cord connecting Holt's keys to the belt, then throwing them over to Jake. And whilst Holt is so distracted by trying to find his keys, he doesn't notice Terry sneaking up behind him and swiftly swiping his phone. After removing the screen protector, the sergeant passes the phone to Rosa who subtly returns it.

Once Holt finally notices that Detective Peralta is missing from the group, he storms into his office to catch the man in the act of trying to mould a copy of his key.

Kat rushes over to Terry's desk. "You got it?" she asks quietly.

A sly grin appears on his face, and he points over to Charles where the detective is dusting the screen cover for prints. "Oh, we got it," Terry confirms proudly.

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

Eleven-thirty.

Half an hour until the deadline.

With no work left for the night, Kat helps Rosa finish the paperwork the latter had for a homicide. Naturally, Katherine had tried to pry answers from the woman about her time in Catholic school, but she wasn't surprised when the Diaz had remained a closed book.

She just hopes that Terry had managed to find something, because God does she want to know what happened.

Not even a minute later, the sergeant approaches them and clears his throat. "So." He takes the chair beside Kat and locks eyes with Rosa. In his hands is a folder. "I called your school. And I managed to get a hold of one Sister Bernadette."

The blonde-haired detective's eyes widen. "Oh dang," she whispers.

Rosa narrows her eyes slightly. "I remember that old bag," she admits, head tilting ever so slightly. "She was my favourite."

"Well, guess what she said?" Terry doesn't wait for her to answer. "Apparently, you were a model student and transferred of your own volition."

"Oh dang," Kat repeats, a little louder this time.

Rosa looks to her, eyes lingering on her face for a few moments before she quickly glances around them and leans closer. "Fine," she admits in a low voice. "The reason I left Catholic school was because I got into the American Ballet Academy. I was a classical dancer. And I was good."

An ear-splitting grin quickly appears on Terry's face. "I knew it!" he exclaims. The smugness on his and Kat's expressions mirrors the other. "We knew you were a big softy!"

Kat clears her throat and tries to remain serious as she asks, "Did you wear a fluffy tutu?" Terry bursts into uncontrollable laughter.

Rosa abruptly stands up. "You tell anyone," she begins, looking solely at Terry, "I break your face." She kicks the drawer to her desk shut. Her eyes flick over to Kat, who holds her hands up.

But neither of their smiles have disappeared. "No you won't," Terry calls out after her. "You're too sensitive!"

Rosa glances over her shoulder to send them both a withering glare as they burst into shameless giggles.

Kat returns to her own desk with a wide smile and glances at the clock. It's five to midnight. She meets Amy's eyes, who quickly nods before hurrying over to the captain's office to inform him that Jake had been 'arrested scaling the side of the building with a blowtorch.'

Another elaborate, yet very believable, ruse to help distract Holt.

As soon as Amy and the captain disappear from the bullpen, Charles and Kat share a curt nod and hurry out onto the balcony to then shuffle their way through the unlocked window to get into the office.

Kat rolls her eyes as Charles instantly drops to the ground and army crawls his way across the room and over to the safe. "Boyle," she says exasperatedly. "He's gone."

"Precautions, Kat, come on!" He shakes his head in disappointment. "Amateur hour."

She glances down to the notepad in his hand sporting the twenty-four possible different combinations to open the safe. "Okay, what's the bet I'll get it first try?" she asks with a small smirk.

He sighs as she enters the first number. "Impossible. Impossible. It's impossible that you'd—" He blinks then stares blankly at the now opened safe. "You're kidding me!"

She grins and grabs the medal of valour from inside. "C'mon, let's go get our win." Charles scrambles up and they weave through confused officers to get to the interrogation room where Jake and Holt currently sit inside.

They walk into the observation room in order to watch the interaction through the one-way glass so Holt doesn't know they're there. Because Kat had managed to guess the password so quickly, they've arrived in time to hear Jake's melodramatic reveal of how he had pulled everything off.

She leans over to get a glimpse of Charles's watch and he grins as he holds it up. "Four minutes to twelve," he announces.

She sighs happily and presses the button for the speakers so they can hear the ongoing conversation. "So, this is what victory tastes like."

With his hands folded together on the table, Jake leans back into the uncomfortable chair as he provides a response to something Holt had said before Charles and Kat had arrived. "But it gave me the idea for Herman, the friendly janitor you met. With Herman, I commenced the perfect crime." He smiles.

Holt leans across the table, amusement prominent on his face. "I caught you as Herman," he reminds the detective.

"But you didn't catch Rosa. As it turns out, Rosa is great at picking locks."

"Does not surprise me," Holt confesses.

"No, me neither," Jake replies.

Kat shrugs. "Most things she does doesn't surprise me," she says. Charles nods along in agreement.

"Of course, I had to find a way to get her out of your office without you seeing her. So, I created a diversion. Not mistimed—perfectly timed, so she could escape unseen."

Holt raises his brows. "What about the pigeons?" he asks.

"Oh, the grey pigeons? They were a red herring." Kat snickers. Jake spreads his hands as if he would receive praise from Holt. "Thank you. Their only purpose was to draw you into the copy room while two members of my team broke into your locked office."

"Can't believe the Sarge lowered Amy into there," Charles mutters in disbelief. "Those muscles can't be real."

"So now I had a way into your office and an open cabinet. All that was left was for the royal babies to steal your keys."

"Yes, but you didn't need the keys," Holt points out. "The cabinet was already unlocked. You needed a way into the safe."

"And I got it. You were so concerned with getting your keys back, you didn't even notice the sergeant steal your phone. That's right, even the sergeant's on my side." With Holt's back to the glass, they can only see Jake's expression, which currently is very smug. "I then had Charles dust your screen cover for prints. The greasiest smudges revealed the four numbers you use the most; the four numbers in your passcode."

"So smart," Charles says proudly.

"Based on your advanced age, I assumed that you use the same passcode for everything: your phone, your email, and of course..." Holt rolls his eyes and Jake smiles. "Your safe."

"That would be a fair assumption," the captain hesitantly confirms.

"It was at that point I bumped into a girl dressed as a sexy robot, and we got our flirt on. Hard." Kat pinches the bridge of her nose as she watches Jake bite onto his lip as he recalls the moment.

Holt stares at him, confused as to how this is relevant to the topic at hand. "And how was flirting part of the plan?" he questions.

"Oh, it wasn't," Jake admits. "It just ruled. And that brings us to five minutes ago, when Amy came to your office and told you that I had been arrested. I knew she's the only one you would believe because, frankly, she's usually too lame to take part in these kinds of things.

Kat winces. "Harsh but true," she sighs.

"And as you walked over here, Kat and Charles stuffed themselves through your window and opened your safe. We had the four numbers of your code, which meant there were twenty-four possible combinations for them to try. If they didn't guess it on their first try, it could take up to four minutes, which is why I really dragged out this explanation, just in case. I mean, really stretched it out. I don't know if you noticed, but there were times where I was like, what am I even talking about? This isn't—"

Jake cuts himself off as his watch beeps.

"Oh." His eyes return to Raymond who has leaned back in his chair, reluctantly ready to admit defeat if needed. "But now, five minutes is up. Which means Charles and Kat are either on the other side of that door holding your medal, or I've lost."

They all watch Holt stand up and walk over to the door, however, as he opens it, Jake's face falls in panic when realising that neither of his friends are there. The captain turns around, a smile slowly spreading onto his face. "Well, Detective, it appears—"

Kat presses the button for the intercom, and Charles presses the one to reveal the glass to those inside the small room. "Actually," she announces. Holt spins around in surprise, and Jake's eyes widen in relief as he finds them on the other side.

Holding the medal above his head, Charles excitedly yells, "We got it, Jakey!"

As Holt stares at them all in a state of disbelief, Jake glances down to his watch. "Twenty seconds to spare," he concludes. "Game over, Captain. Check me."

"I think you mean 'checkmate,'" he corrects. "You really need to learn how to play chess." He then asks the most important question. "How did you get everyone to help you?"

Kat presses the button again. "Well, sir, we just love Peralta so much that we would do absolutely anything for him." Holt turns back around to stare at her.

Jake sighs wistfully. "I wish," he mutters in disappointment. "Instead, I appealed to their sense of teamwork and camaraderie with a rousing speech that would put Shakespeare to shame."

It was around approximately seven o'clock when Jake had stood up on a chair, one leg propped up onto his desk as he looks out across the precinct. He clears his throat and gathers his squad's attention as he dons a Scottish accent. "For too long, we've been put down, ridiculed, made to wear ties!" They all stare at him exasperatedly. "But no more! For today... we defeat him!"

Holt's brows shoot up in surprise. "And that worked?" he asks sceptically.

"No," Jake denies without a beat. He breaks into laughter. "No, no. Not at all. My speech did not inspire them."

"It was one of his greatest failures," Kat adds. Jake waves a hand at her in dismissal.

Charles pushes her aside so he can get to the microphone. "Personally, I think it was one of your greatest moments!"

"Why thank you, Charles. However, the rest of them did not. So, I bribed them. I told them that if we pulled this off, I would do all their paperwork. And since you're doing all my paperwork..."

A small smile appears on Holt's face. It could be even be passed off as pride. "I'm impressed, Peralta," he confesses. "Well done."

Jake dips his head. "Thank you, sir."

As Holt opens the door, Charles and Kat are stood outside to hand him back the medal. "In fact, as you failed to see, Captain..."

As Charles and Holt walk off, Katherine pokes her head back into the interrogation room. Jake is still in handcuffs. "I gotta admit, dude, this was good," she says.

He grins. "Thanks." He looks down to the cuffs on his wrists. "Oh, by the way, could you do me a tiny favour and get me out of these?"

She purses her lips as she contemplates it. "Actually, I think I've done you enough favours for a lifetime."

Jake's eyes widen in horror as she backs away. "No, no, Kat!" he yells. "Katherine, don't leave me in here! I know where you live!"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎ ﾟ。 ⋆

It's after midnight when Amy decides to do something to make up to Charles. Not only had she ditched him earlier, but everyone else had been so distracted by the heist that the spirit of Halloween had been lost. Gathered with the rest of his squad, Terry calls out, "Boyle, I need you in the briefing room!"

Charles sighs and grabs onto his bag. But when he opens the door, he stops in his tracks at the sight before him. Everyone is in a costume. Amy is covered in crime scene tape, Holt is wearing an eyepatch, Jake has of course brought back his cape and crown, Scully a pirate, Hitchcock a skeleton, Gina as a cop, Terry in a tank top with salt and pepper shaker prints stuck to his chest, Kat is—at request by Jake—a slutty nurse, and Rosa is the bride of Frankenstein.

Charles takes in the dozens of decorations and their costumes, then smiles. "What is all this?" he asks in surprise.

"You know how I think Halloween is for jerks?" Amy asks. She steps forward and gives him a small, apologetic smile. "Well, this Halloween, I was the jerk. I'm sorry about tonight."

"'I'm sorry about tonight,'" Jake repeats. He breaks into smile. "Good news again, everyone! We found the title for Santiago's follow-up sex tape." He and Rosa high-five, and Kat chuckles at Amy's expression.

"I'm sorry I couldn't convince you to love Halloween," Charles tells Amy, his words laced with regret.

"It's not your fault," she reassures him. "I was terrible."

"Sorry, but 'It's not your fault. I was terrible' is also one of your sex tapes," Jake chimes in quickly. Amy whirls around to slap his arm. "Ow..."

"Halloween is unbearable," she continues, turning back around to Charles. A soft smile graces her face. "But it was slightly less unbearable with you." As soon as the words leave her mouth, she knows what's going to happen. Her head snaps over to Jake and she raises a finger to him in warning. "Don't."

"Okay..."

"Anyway. We're all going to the bar. So, get changed, 'cause you can't be the only one there not wearing a 'stume." She smiles at him as she places his copper wig back onto his head.

"'Stume!" Charles exclaims with a beaming grin. "Oh, my God, it caught on." The group all grimace and shake their heads.

With two toffee apples in hand, Kat makes her way over to Rosa who is stood on her own in the corner of the briefing room. "Hey," she greets. She holds out the apple for her. "Brought this for you."

Rosa nods and takes the candied fruit. Her eyes dart back up to Kat as she quickly says, "Thank you."

"No worries. Be careful though, I watched Gina take out her tooth on one of those when we were kids." Kat lets out a chuckle as the woman smiles at the imagery. "Yeah, it was not pretty."

Rosa's eyes trail down Kat's body, gaze lingering on her bare legs. "You look good," she says.

Kat reaches up to adjust the collar of her dress and smiles. "Thanks. You look good, too." The blush that colours Rosa's cheeks is so faint that it's almost impossible to notice.

"Attention, everyone," Holt calls out, immediately gathering all their attention. He hesitates for a second as he glances to Jake beside him with his arms crossed. "Jake Peralta is an amazing detective-slash-genius." Jake mouths along the last few words, and his friends all smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some... paperwork to do."

At Jake's cue, the room applauds as Raymond Holt makes his exit with his own toffee apple in hand.

With the plans to go to Shaw's to properly celebrate the holiday, Kat grabs her bag full of her clothes from earlier and tosses the stick from her toffee apple in the trash can. She lifts her head when she spots Rosa stop beside her. "Hey," she says with a smile. "What's up?"

Terry lifts his head from his final batch of paperwork in interest. Rosa glances between them both as she explains what she had just learnt from a recent phone call. "Officer in the Ninety-Second got the royal baby mugger," she says. "He had nineteen wallets in his diaper."

"We got a runner," someone yells out.

They then watch a man dressed as Tarzan sprinting into the bullpen with a uniformed cop on his tail. Kat's eyes widen as Rosa rushes over and grabs the man by his shoulder, then slamming him onto the ground like he weighs absolutely nothing.

"Damn!" Terry exclaims in shock.

Rosa forcefully turns him onto his back so she can pin his hands together. "Oh, I didn't tell you guys," she begins as she looks over to Kat and Terry. "I got kicked out of ballet school for beating the crap out of ballerinas."

Terry's brows raise. "Should've seen that coming," he mutters to Kat. When he doesn't receive a response from her, he glances to her to find her still staring at Rosa. "Okay, pick your jaw up off the floor," he tells her with a roll of his eyes. "Linetti!"

She spins around. "Huh, what?"

He shakes his head in amusement. "Oh man, you both are so oblivious," he mutters. "Terry knows everything."

god i love these episodes 😭 they are truly unmatched