CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE | FOREVER

xxiii. the one with the halloween heist: the sequel

FOR THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS, Jake Peralta had brought up the upcoming Halloween Heist every second day. After the first month, Kat had gotten so annoyed that she placed a ban on talking about the holiday in general; she could only hear about him being called an amazing detective-slash-genius oh so many times.

The week leading up to this year's Halloween, the group at the Nine-Nine had reluctantly lifted the ban. In hindsight, it was a terrible decision, because for the next seven days they had listened to him rant about all the possible ways he would attempt to win the bet.

That's if Raymond Holt even decided to participate in the heist in the first place.

However, given that Kat had accidentally walked in on the captain during one of his brainstorming sessions the other day, she has a strong feeling that the Halloween Heist is going ahead tonight. But just because she's aware of Holt's plans doesn't mean she has any intention of letting Jake know. And it wasn't because Holt threatened to fire her if she spilled the beans, no, Kat simply just couldn't wait to slip the title out from Peralta's name this year. Even if it was to help Raymond Holt instead.

Just like usual, the precinct is high with the spirit of Halloween. "Attention, boys and ghouls," Charles announces as he strides into the break room. He clasps his hands together and rocks back on his heels as he looks across the group spread across the room.

Jake glances over to the man from his pile of papers. "Nope."

But Boyle isn't at all deterred by his best friend's instant dismissal. "Every Halloween, I dress up in an amazing costume, and you never get what I am," he says.

Sat up on the pool table beside Gina, Rosa tilts her head slightly. "No, we get what you are," she tells him. "An adult man who enjoys dress-up."

Charles laughs off her insult. "Very funny, Rosa." Kat takes a sip of her coffee to hide her giggle. "This year, that won't be a problem because you're gonna pick my costume."

"Oh, absolutely," Katherine grins. This is going to present her with a world of countless opportunities. However, the rest of her colleagues don't share the same mindset as her as they groan and grumble various words of annoyance. Charles excuses himself with an excited smile.

A few minutes later, he returns dressed as a giant orange.

Jake squints his eyes in thought. "Uh, Ms Pac-Man's nipple," he suggests.

"No, that's brown," Charles replies.

Kat's nose scrunches up. "How the hell would you know that?" she retorts. Amy, sat beside her at the table, gestures to her in agreement. "Actually, don't answer, I really don't wanna know."

The next costume is Shakespearean themed. Charles spreads his hands with a grin as he enters the room. "To be or not to be!"

"Not to be," Rosa answers bluntly.

"Thank you," Charles says with a bow.

Dressed in the final costume, he runs back into the room with a theatrical yell. Kat squints her eyes at the terrible blonde wig. "Oh, wow," she mutters.

"Joan of Arc," Jake fires away. "Rod Stewart. No, Martha Stewart!"

Kat scoffs. "He's clearly a knock-off Thor," she argues with a shake of her head.

Charles's eye twitches out of frustration. "He-Man," he corrects them. "Master of the Universe!"

Gina gasps in realisation. "I got it," she proclaims. "Gay Robin Hood." The group all exclaim various words of agreement with her.

"That's it! That's totally it."

"Oh, my gosh, that's what it is!"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

Kat rolls her eyes in amusement as she watches Jake barely able to sit still in his chair, eagerly waiting for the captain to walk out of the elevator for the start of the shift. "Dude, you have to chill," she calls out.

His gaze briefly shifts over to her to then quickly return to the elevator. "I can't," he retorts, grin unwavering. "Today's the day, Sarge."

She hums. "Ah, yes, the day where you're going to 'kick his ass,'" she deadpans, reciting what he had said yesterday evening.

He blindingly points a finger over to her. His fingers drum against the arms of his chair excitedly as Raymond finally walks into the bullpen. "Oh, hey there, Captain," he greets nonchalantly. "Just curious, do you happen to know what today is?"

"Well, based on the fact that today was the birthday of legendary Dutch flautist Frans Brüggen, and a week ago, it was October Twenty-Fourth, I'd say today is—"

"It's Halloween," Jake interrupts impatiently. "Just say it's Halloween."

"It's Halloween," Holt repeats. He raises a brow at the detective.

"All right, and what happened last Halloween?"

"Oh, I listened to the CD I bought the night before: the Frans Brüggen birthday concert."

Jake shakes his head. "Please stop saying Brüggen."

"Last year, you bet me that you could steal my Medal of Valour," Raymond says. Jake turns around with a grin as if he would receive applause from his colleagues. "And you did. Consequently, I was forced to do your paperwork for a week and to say words I thought I'd never have to say."

Detective Peralta raises his brows. "And what were those words?" he encourages with a smug smile.

"Oh, no," the captain begins with a shake of his head. "That will not be happening again."

Kat snickers when Jake's face falls. But he quickly collects himself as if nothing had happened. "And now it's time for round two of our Halloween bet. This year, I believe I'll make things more difficult for myself. Let's say, what..." His eyes flick across Holt's body. "I'll steal the watch right off your wrist."

Raymond holds his arm up to reveal the silver piece of jewellery. "Or we could just not do it at all this year," he counters disinterestedly.

Jake laughs. "What?" He turns around to watch the captain return to his office. "Sir, with all due respect, come on, homey! ...No?"

"It's not worth all the trouble just so you might call me an amazing captain-slash-genius and give me one week of overtime for free," Holt concludes.

His eyes land on Katherine for a split-second, reminding her that all of this is an elaborate ruse into tricking Jake that he hadn't spared a thought about the heist for this year. Whereas he had actually been planning since the second the last one had finished and begun three months ago for next year's.

"All right, fine," Jake says quickly, desperate to go ahead with the heist. "I'll double the overtime." Terry's brows shoot up in surprise. Most of the bullpen stops what they're doing. "I'll triple it! I'll quadruple it! I will five-druple it! I'll five-druple the overtime."

"It's actually quintuple," Kat corrects him.

Jake vigorously waves a hand at her to shut up. But the admission has caught Holt's attention. Jake's eyes widen. "Got his attention," he says eagerly. "He's coming back to me..."

Raymond Holt holds up his watch adorned wrist once more. "Just to clarify. If you steal my watch by midnight, I will do your paperwork for a week, but if you fail, you will give me five weeks of overtime for free."

Jake hesitates for a second. "Correct."

"I'm doing a cost-benefit analysis in my head. The benefits outweigh the costs. We have reached an accord." The two men firmly shake hands.

"Accords!" Jake grins.

"Sergeant Linetti," Holt calls out to the woman. "A moment in my office, please."

As she stands, Jake's eyes narrow sceptically as he looks between the two of them. "What is?" he presses. "Are you two in cahoots?"

"You need to stop being so paranoid," Katherine tells him in amusement.

"Agreed," Raymond confirms with a nod.

Despite their statements, Jake's eyes narrow even further. "Then you won't mind letting us all know what you're going to talk about," he says as he crosses his arms.

"I need to discuss with the sergeant about the upcoming task force that the scathing she-devil is closely watching us with," Holt answers, lips curling into a sneer.

"Madeline Wuntch," Kat clarifies. Raymond grimaces at the simple mention of the devil incarnate. "He's referring to Madeline Wuntch."

"I thought that was obvious," the captain remarks.

Jake blinks. "Oh," he says. "Well, yeah, of course, go ahead."

Kat shakes her head with a smile as she passes him and follows Holt into his office. "Good excuse, sir," she praises after she shuts the door.

He takes his seat behind the desk and gestures her to take a chair. "It seemed believable enough," he says. "However, we do need to have a conversation about that matter soon. Right now, I need to check in with you."

She nods in understanding. "So far he has no idea what you're planning," she explains. "He fully believes that all of us are with him like last year and doesn't suspect that we're going to be double-crossing him for you. Naturally, Charles is clueless—which makes him an even easier target."

Captain Holt nods as he clasps his hands together atop of the desk. "Perfect," he says. He locks eyes with Jake through the window. "That son of a bitch has no idea what's about to happen to him."

Katherine's eyes widen slightly. "You seem very invested in this," she observes. "I take it last year hurt you more than you let on."

"Given I haven't stopped thinking about it for three-hundred and sixty-five days, yes. Last year did 'hurt.'" Holt clears his throat and leans forward to her. "Which is why this year, I need to win."

"You mean, we need to win," Kat says with a smile.

"No. I need to win. All of you are just pawns in my game."

She purses her lips. "Right, of course we are." And they are. For the last year, the Nine-Nine detectives and sergeants have been given roles and commands from Holt and Jake.

Kat's not the only one starting to get frustrated that they can't properly participate themselves. She wants to win the crown and title for herself, and she wants it badly.

The heist wasn't the only event on the calendar day. Across the NYPD, officers had been tasked to create safety pumpkins to hand out to kids as part of the new 'Safe Halloween' program.

"Handing out these safety pumpkins to neighbourhood kids is a cornerstone in community relations," Terry explains to his colleagues stood before him.

"And putting them together is a boring-stone in testing my patience," Rosa retorts irritably, eyes narrowing at the orange, spherical container.

Kat sighs and she places her pumpkin down beside Terry. "Look, an assembly line is a guaranteed way to help speed this all along," she says.

Gina rests her elbows on her knees as she leans forward. "Ooh, that's a great idea, Katherine," she muses. "However, is there any way I can skip doing that and instead, not do that?" Terry's eyebrows raise. "I have an urgent matter to attend to."

"Well, it's not my call to make," Kat admits. She slowly turns to the side to look at Terry. Since he's the senior sergeant, she answers to him first.

Jeffords nods at Gina. "Yeah, okay, no problem," he smiles. Amy's lips part in disbelief. "Just come back and help us when you're done."

Gina beams at the sergeants as she stands up, leaving Amy and Rosa glaring daggers at her. "Thank you," she tells them gratefully. "I'll leave you guys with this. One-duhl plus one-duhl equals... toodles!"

Terry and Kat both laugh as she gracefully glides out the room, but their smiles drop when turning back to find Amy and Rosa's expressions. "Seriously, Sarge?" Amy snaps with narrowed eyes. "You're just gonna let her go?"

Kat frowns. She knows that her sister has enrolled in night school to try and graduate from college, so she presumes that's what Gina is doing now—studying.

She couldn't be more wrong.

Terry sighs. "Look, a year ago, I would've been thinking the same thing," he admits. "But I've learned to give her the benefit of the doubt."

Rosa places a hand on her hip. "What kind of urgent matter could Gina possibly have to attend to? She's already checked herself out in every reflective surface around the precinct."

"Including my lip gloss," Amy adds exasperatedly. "She said she looked better when I frowned."

"Oh, wow," Kat mutters. When Rosa's narrowed eyes flick to her, she purses her lips, refusing to break under her pressing stare. Gina's secret isn't hers to tell, especially because her old sister is shy about admitting the fact she's back in college.

It isn't long before Jake Peralta calls the first official meeting for the heist. The squad all file into the briefing room as they wait for him to make his appearance, something that Kat knows will be dramatic.

As soon as Rosa has walked inside, the door closes, and Jake leaps out in a black tux, bright red shirt, bowtie, and top hat. "I was behind the door," he exclaims theatrically. Most of the group flinches.

Katherine nods with a hum. "I know, I saw your shadow," she says.

He throws his head back with a groan of frustration. "God! Could you, like, stop being a detective for once?" She raises a brow at him. He clears his throat, theatrical voice returning. "Right. Greetings, ladies, gentlemen, and Detective Santiago. Welcome to the most important briefing of your lives. As you all know, the Holt-Peralta Halloween bet has been made, and the clock doth tick."

Rosa rests her arm behind Kat's shoulders, leaning slightly on her chair. "What's with the tux?" she asks, amused by his dramatic persona.

"I decided to class up this year's event," he says with a smile. "I bought it off a disgraced magician, and it is chock-full of scarves." Kat chuckles as he pulls out a seemingly endless length of a colourful scarf.

Scully and Hitchcock watch him in awe. "What?" the former asks, eyes wide with disbelief. "How?"

"A real magician never tells, young man." Charles nods, thoroughly impressed by his best friend's vague answer. Jake clears his throat. "Now, let's get started. I've been planning this for three months."

Katherine refrains from laughing. She finds it hilarious that he believes he actually has a chance at winning this. And except for Charles, everyone else in the room is thinking the same. Raymond Holt had sent an email out to them yesterday, simply asking if they would assist him in this year's heist merely to embarrass Jake Peralta. Every single one of them had accepted without any form of hesitation.

"You've all been given a specific role and a code name," Jake addresses the room. "Rosa, you're The Dagger. Sarge One, you're The Empire." Rosa and Kat share a smile. "Sarge Two, The Hammer. Amy, The Hall Monitor."

A grin instantly adorns Amy's face. "Yeah, suck it!"

"Scully and Hitchcock, I'm just gonna call you your real names so you don't get confused."

Scully nods. "Smart," he praises.

Hitchcock tilts his head. "What?"

"When Tisha gets here, she will be The Cookie, because she is bringing me homemade cookies and that's all that I'm thinking about right now. And Boyle, as requested, you will be The Deuce. Although I still think you should reconsider that code name."

Charles leans back in his chair. "Nope, Deuce," he says with a smirk. "It's like ace, but twice as cool."

"It is not," Jake counters. "It's a turd. Now, because of last year, the captain will suspect that you are all helping me, so we will never get anywhere near his watch, but the actual theft will be pulled by Dan McCreary, AKA..." He opens the door to reveal a man standing outside. "'Fingers.'"

"How you doing?" Dan shakes Amy's hand. "Call me 'Fingers.'"

Rosa's brows furrow as she studies the man who goes around shaking their hands. "Hey, I remember this guy," she realises.

"That's probably because you've arrested him twice for pickpocketing," Jake tells her.

Kat's eyes narrow even further when 'Fingers' stops before her with an outstretched hand. "No way," she states firmly. When his eyes flick over to Rosa, he nods at her similar demeanour.

"You have a criminal helping you?" Amy asks in disbelief. "That's crazy!"

"Grow up, Amy," he retorts with a roll of his eyes.

Katherine crosses her arms on the desk. "Actually, it might be so stupid that it could work," she admits honestly.

Jake gratefully waves his arms at her. "Thank you," he exclaims loudly. "Someone is seeing my vision! Now, we will all work together as a team to move the captain into position. Once there, Fingers—loving that code name—will remove the captain's watch and replace it with this replica watch." He closes his eyes as he puts a hand into his coat pocket. "Oh, that is a very dead dove."

The group grimace as he shakes off the feathers stuck to his palm.

"... This replica watch!"

Terry sighs at his plan. "Jake, if he's been arrested before, how do you know if he's any good?"

"I'll answer that for you," Kat interjects. They all turn around to look at her as she walks over to McCreary. "Hey, Dan, would you mind doing me a huge favour and holding out your arms? Thank you so much, you're a great criminal."

Charles's eyes widen in shock as she takes out a wallet from the pocket of Dan's jacket. Then another wallet. Keys. Another wallet. "Woah, that's our stuff," Terry protests.

Katherine throws him his wallet. "Sure is." Her eyes squint as she turns back around to Dan, then she nods over at Jake. "I approve, he's good."

"How did you know?" Amy asks her, eyes wide with incredulity.

"I'm a detective," Kat retorts simply. "It's my job to notice these things. Something none of you did." Rosa grins at the awkward silence that suddenly engulfs the room.

"My croissant," Charles gasps as Dan throws him his snack. "But where's the smoked turkey?"

"Check your breast pocket."

Charles gasps again he pulls out the slice of turkey. "Come on!"

Jake wears a wide grin as he clasps his hands together on the podium. "Let's win this bet, people," he cheers excitedly. "Kat, my lady, would you please proceed with Act One?"

She salutes as she walks past him and out into the bullpen. Her specific role is to get close to Raymond Holt, then stab him in the back at the very last minute. In Jake's words, it was going to be like how Lando betrayed Han Solo in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Being a double agent, so far, is surprisingly a lot easier than she had thought it would be. Or maybe she's just a much better liar than she thought she was.

Or maybe Jake Peralta is just really, really gullible.

Captain Holt waves her in the second she knocks on the door. "Okay, Linetti," he begins, eyes narrowing. "What is this son of a bitch planning?"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

With a smile, Jake gently wraps his knuckles against the glass window to Captain Holt's office. Inside, Raymond pauses what he is doing to look up at him. "Salutations, Captain," he calls out. "I was wondering perchance if you would like to attend the opera with me this eve."

"I'll pass," Holt responds. "Choosing instead to stay in my locked office with my watch still safely on my wrist."

Jake sighs as the man holds up his wrist. Just like Kat had reported, Raymond Holt doesn't plan to move a single step out of his office until the clock turns midnight. "I had a feeling you might say that," he admits. "Thusfore, I have decided to bring the opera to you. Hitchcock, Scully!"

While Hitchcock holds a stereo that plays a dramatic orchestral piece, Scully walks up beside Jake and begins his opera.

"The Empire, strike back!" Jake yells, calling his friend to commence her distraction. He sighs to himself happily. "This is amazing."

The list about to be held up contains of all the different ways Kat and Holt had 'planned' to destroy him tonight, therefore giving Jake an advantage because he now knows them.

Kat holds up her poster when Holt meets her eyes with betrayal etched onto his face. "Sorry, sir," she shrugs with a grin.

While Holt is distracted, Terry takes to freezing the lock off the door to the office.

Kat leans back on her desk as she watches it all unfold before her. She smiles when Tisha joins her side, setting down a large container of chocolate cookies. "Hey, Mom—"

The blonde places a hand over the girl's mouth. "Shh, we're getting to the good part," she whispers.

"Now, Hammer," Jake instructs. "It's time!" A joyous smile graces his face. "It's hammer time. I love life!" With Scully still serenading the entire block, Terry smashes the lock off the door. Holt's head snaps over to the commotion. "You're up, Dagger," Jake points to Rosa. After fist bumping Tisha, Rosa somersaults over to the door. "No need for the somersaults!"

She glances over to him before sliding a smoke grenade through the hole in the door. "Disagree."

As smoke fills the room, Holt throws his hands up exasperatedly. Tisha giggles. "He's so done," she says with another laugh.

"Hall Monitor, now! Block his path!" Right on cue, Amy leads a line of suspects in handcuffs in front of the door as the captain tries to leave the office. Raymond throws his hands up once again. "Okay, Boyle—and only because you insisted I say this—it's time to drop a deuce!"

Stationed up in the ceiling, Charles empties the bags of bouncy balls he had been holding. Tisha throws her head back, letting out a loud cackle when Holt is forced to stop as he dodges the balls.

When the balls all stop bouncing, Jake smiles at the captain. "And now, the Jake and bake," he declares.

While Peralta manoeuvres the drone he had hired, Rosa stops beside the Linettis and takes a cookie from the container Tisha holds out to her. "So, what'd you think of Halloween so far?" she asks.

"Oh, it's way better than you all made it out to be," Tisha says, eyes glued onto the drone that flies across the bullpen. Her jaw drops when Holt ducks to avoid the drone soaring into him, sending it crashing into the back of a nearby man's head.

Jake immediately shoves the done into the nearest detective's hands. "Woah, come on, Amy," he complains. "Not cool! That's a guy!" She scoffs and pushes it back into his chest.

"Peralta, that's enough," Captain Holt yells. Once Scully realises that he's severely misreading the room by continuing his opera, he quickly quietens. Holt rushes over to Dan McCreary on the floor pretending to be injured. "Sir, I am so sorry."

"I just wanted somebody to check my son's candy..."

"Please, let me help you up." As 'Fingers' takes the captain's hand, he swiftly slips off the watch on his wrist. "On behalf of the Nine-Nine, I apologise."

Jake grins as Dan McCreary holds up the watch to them behind Holt's back. "Fingers has grabbed the package," he says quietly. "I didn't mean for that to sound so dirty..." His eyes widen when he realises that Tisha has joined them. "Ooh, cookies!"

While he's distracted, Jake completely misses how Dan McCreary puts the original watch into Holt's pocket.

"I'll have someone check your son's bag of candy immediately. Clark!"

McCreary nods and shakes the captain's hand. "Thank you, sir," he says. He discreetly places the replica watch back onto Holt's wrist.

"If you need anything, please, contact me."

Katherine Linetti had been wrong earlier. They're all brilliant actors.

"The replica is on the wrist," Jake whispers, trying to contain his excitement. "Game over."

"I know all this was done in the spirit of a friendly bet, but this all went too far," Holt addresses them. "Am I understood? Peralta!"

"Yes, sir," he rushes out, dipping his head. "Completely understood, sir. I'm sorry."

As Holt returns to his office, he nods to the teenager standing with the detectives. "Good evening, Tisha," he greets. She sends him a beaming smile.

As soon as the door to the office closes, Jake's maniacal grin replaces his frown. "But not as sorry as you're going to be at midnight," he says lowly, "when you realise you've lost everything!"

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

Kat looks up from her desk with narrowed eyes as she watches Jake and Charles hurry back into the bullpen with panicked faces. They had been gone for less than an hour to go pick up the watch from McCreary, who would have then told them that he 'sold it.'

"What did you do?" she calls out accusatorially.

Jake freezes at her judgmental tone and nervously spins around, almost flinching at her expression. "Sarge," his voice squeaks. "Hey! Absolutely nothing for you to worry about."

"Your entire life is something I need to worry about."

Charles winces. Jake hesitates for a moment then rushes over to her desk, Charles right behind him. "Okay, so promise you won't get mad," he begins cautiously.

Her eyes narrow even further. "What did you do?" she repeats.

He clears his throat as he rubs the back of his neck. "So... I might have... lost the watch." Jake squeezes his eyes shut in anticipation of her reaction.

"I'm sorry," she says with a laugh. Her smile drops. "I thought I heard you just say you lost the captain's watch."

Charles quickly nods. "Oh yeah, he did," he confirms.

Her eyes snap back over to Jake. "You lost the captain's watch?" she whisper-yells. She grabs him by the ear, ignoring his complaints, and drags him and Boyle into the break room. The door slams shut. "How the hell did you lose it?"

Tisha glances up at them from the couch. "You lost the watch?" Jake briefly glances at her, glare prominent. "We all guessed it would happen, you're the cop who hired a criminal."

He blows out a breath of air, trying to calm himself down. "Okay, I still have two hours to find Fingers and get the watch back," he rambles anxiously. "Two hours, that's... two-hundred—one-hundred... whatever many minutes!"

"A hundred and twenty minutes," Tisha calls out. Jake points over to her appreciatively.

Kat sighs. "Sure, you have two hours, but Jake, this guy could be anywhere by now," she points out. "This is New York we're talking about."

"He could be in Canada by now," Charles continues with a frown. "There are so many forests up there. That country is one giant hiding place."

"I read about that," Tisha pipes up, closing her laptop to concentrate on the conversation. "Something about that it's one of the best places to dump a dead body."

"I read that, too," Charles exclaims.

Kat chuckles at how they suddenly launch into exactly why it would be such a good place to dump a dead body. Maybe she should be concerned by the fact that her kid is researching the best places to dump a dead body...

"Guys, I kinda need you to be positive right now, okay?" Jake sighs and grabs the precinct laptop Tisha had been using, rapidly typing the keys for a few minutes.

"Yes, sorry," Boyle nods apologetically. "Damn my mouth."

"I want that back," Tisha demands with a raised brow. "Gilmore Girls trumps dead people's watches!" She huffs a sigh and grabs another cookie when Jake waves a hand at her. "Unbelievable. Unbelievable."

"Hey, Tish," Charles says thoughtfully. She hums. "You talked to Rosa about that? She's obsessed with Lorelai—and I can't blame her, 'cause all I want is for her to be—"

Tisha's eyes widen. "Rosa likes Gilmore Girls? Shut up!" she shrieks. She glances to her mom, lowering her voice to whisper, "If it wasn't meant to be before..."

Katherine's scowl is scary enough for her skin to pale. "If you say one more word, I'll throw you in the holding cell," she threatens, all too serious.

Tisha swallows. "Damn," she mutters under her breath.

"All right, let's look up McCreary's arrest records, past addresses, known associates," Jake declares.

Katherine sighs and motions for Tisha to follow her. "C'mon, kid, I'll pay you if you help Rosa and Amy do the pumpkin stuff." The girl's eyes light up at her words. She nods over to Jake. "Good luck, dude."

As they leave the break room, they pass Holt who is heading inside. "Top of the mornin' to ya, Captain," Tisha grins.

Leading her daughter down to the ground floor of the Nine-Nine, they find Terry handing out pumpkin baskets to kids in costumes. Kat places a hand on Tisha's shoulder as they stop before the table. "One more volunteer," she declares to the group.

Amy smiles brightly at the girl. "Finally!" she sighs in relief. "Where've you been?"

Tisha returns the smile and grabs one of the baskets to look inside. "I was watching Gilmore Girls," she answers. Kat sighs tiredly, remembering that Rosa is somewhere close by and how she reacts to even hearing someone mention the show.

Just as expected, Rosa hurries over with wide eyes. "What season are you on?" she presses the teen, excitement lacing her words as she's found someone else that watches it.

Tisha hands a basket to a costumed kid and smiles. "Six," she answers. She frowns. "And I just want Lorelai—"

"—to be happy!"

Terry chuckles at Tisha and Rosa and turns back to find a boy dressed as a rocket ship. "You'll be so safe," he says in a spooky voice as he holds out the pumpkin. "It's scary."

The kid takes the basket and rolls his eyes. "Lame."

Kat scoffs. "I hate kids," she states. Tisha turns to her with a blank face. "You don't meet the criteria for being a little jerk." The younger girl hums.

"That kid gets it," Gina calls out.

Whilst Terry is distracted, Amy and Rosa walk over to her with frustration etched upon their faces. "Thanks for finally joining us, Gina," Rosa says irritably. "We had to stuff four-hundred of these things without you."

"Great seeing you guys," Gina smiles. "Unfortunately, I cannot stay long." She grabs some candy out of a passing kid's basket. "I just came to grab a healthy snack. Got it. I'm still tending to that urgent matter I was talking about earlier."

"Which is what exactly?" Amy presses.

"Yeah, does it involve books?" Kat asks, tone pointed, brows raising.

Gina meets her eyes for a second, then they flick back over to Amy. "Hmm, funny you should ask, you inquisitive little ferrets," she says.

Tisha tilts her head. "That's a new one," she says.

"I've been practising my dance moves."

Katherine lets out a scoff of disbelief. "Are you kidding me?" she exclaims. "Gina, what the hell?"

"Oh, come on, Katie, you know Floorgasm are performing tonight in the Booo-ty Shake Grand Prix."

All annoyance disappears. "That's tonight?" Kat whispers in alarm. Her sister hums. "Shit."

"Gina, what the hell?" As Terry joins the siblings, Amy and Rosa return to managing the table full of pumpkins . "I defended you." He gestures to Kat. "We both defended you, and your urgent matter was just practicing for some stupid dance show?"

Although Kat is pissed off that Gina had manipulated them (again), she knows when to draw the line. "Okay, Sarge, too far," she interjects.

Gina holds a hand up to her sister gratefully. "Look, I can't help it if my life is literally a Step Up movie."

"Oh, is it? Then I suggest you think of this moment as the montage where you buckle down and take your job seriously, so your boss doesn't kill you. And I'm using boss, single, because Linetti doesn't have the guts to kill you."

Kat sighs. "Yeah, that's true," she admits.

"Fine," Gina scoffs. "Then I suggest you figure out how to turn on all these sprinklers 'cause I'm about to tell a story."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

By eleven-fifty-five, Gina had been danced out of Floorgasm because she had missed too many rehearsals, Terry had offered to be her partner in the competition, the squad had all played their part in the heist, Charles had been kidnapped, and Jake Peralta was arrested.

Now, they all watch from behind the one-way glass as Raymond Holt storms into the interrogation room, fuming with anger. "Talk," he seethes. "Now!"

Each person, except Charles, in the observation room is in a costume that had helped play their part throughout the evening. Scully and Hitchcock are giant bears, Amy is a mechanic, Terry is a Roman Gladiator, Rosa is dressed in a leather cat suit, and Kat is Poison Ivy. She's getting a little annoyed by the ruby-red wig she's wearing, but Rosa had insisted she kept it on for a little longer.

Jake straightens himself in his chair, his hands spread apart from the handcuffs. "You seem upset," he observes. "Well, here's how the story goes. Remember that little Halloween bet that we made? You probably don't even remember; it was so early this morning.

Tisha shoves a handful of her snack into her mouth then offers the bowl to the group of adults surrounding her. "Anyone want popcorn?" she asks.

"Anywhoozle! It turns out the criminal I hired to lift your watch was not trustworthy, and I ended up contracting tuberculosis of the foot and subsequently losing your death watch. But in the end, I like to think this whole thing is gonna bring us closer together, and isn't that what it's really all about? Merry Christmas!"

Raymond raises his brows at Peralta's explanation. "What are you saying?" he counters. He lifts his arm to reveal the replica watch. "My watch is right here."

"No, I made a switch," Jake tells him. "That's a fake."

Kat shakes her head as she chews a bunch of popcorn. "Amateur," she says disapprovingly. Rosa grins.

"No," Holt says. He pulls down the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a second watch that he then points to. "This one's a fake."

Jake stares at the watches in confusion. "What?" He glances up to the captain. "No. What? No. What? ... No. You were behind all this? You played me!"

"Like Frans Brüggen plays the flute."

"But how? I've been planning this theft for three months!"

"I know, but I've been planning it for a year." Jake's eyes widen comically at Holt's revelation. "Last Halloween, after you won the bet, I went back to my office to do everyone's paperwork, but I did no paperwork. I started to plot my revenge. I began by creating a word cloud."

"Seriously, guys," Tisha says with a muffled voice. "There's plenty of popcorn here."

Charles grins and places a piece in his mouth. "Oh, my God," he whispers. Tears spring to his eyes as he places a hand on the girl's shoulder. "The perfect ratio of salt to butter. I've taught you all I can."

"But how could you possibly have known I was gonna try and steal your watch?" Jake asks, completely baffled by what he's hearing.

"I knew you would try to take something important to me. During the year, I drew your attention to my watch." Raymond smiles as he remembers the countless times he had announced the detective was late to work.

"You annoyed me into stealing it," Jake concludes.

"Exactly. Now you had a target, but you needed a plan. Fortunately, it walked through the door, handcuffed to Diaz. The look on your face, priceless."

"Agreed," Rosa states, glancing to Kat who had also been there to witness the moment. "It was priceless."

"I put McCreary into my employ immediately," Raymond explains. "Fast-forward to this morning. You commenced your plan. McCreary stole my watch, and then replaced it with the replica. And while you celebrated, McCreary put my watch back in my pocket. The watch never left my person. Dun-dun-duh!"

"This is amazing," Katherine declares. "This is actually better than most of season six of Gilmore Girls." Rosa and Tisha both gasp at her statement. "Straight-line-mouth-emoji..."

"I can see that you're enjoying this," Jake says with a roll of his eyes.

"Not nearly as much as I enjoyed phase two."

"Phase two!"

"While you met with McCreary, Santiago placed a fire hydrant in front of your car, which she then towed away. Next, I had to take Charles out of the equation. He had a badge and a gun, and he would do anything to help you. Enter a parade of drunks that separated the two of you long enough for Terry to kidnap Charles. The two bears spilled their drinks on you and stole your wallet. Those bears? Scully and Hitchcock."

Jake stares at the captain in awe. He snaps out of his daze to ask, "If Terry kidnapped Charles, how did Charles tell me to get on the party bus?"

"Eight months ago, at a morning briefing I told the squad that a group of thieves was targeting party buses, so I could record Charles saying..." Holt presses play on the recording on his phone:

"Jake, party bus! Toot toot! Get on board!"

"I knew Boyle would never knowingly betray me!"

"With your jacket and shoes gone, you didn't look like a cop, but you still had your badge. That is, until you entered the party bus. Rosa's feline dancing and Katherine's seductive voice," Kat grimaces at Holt's choice of adjective, "distracted you as a mysterious partier stole your badge on... Halloween."

Jake's face falls in realisation. "It was you in the mask," he exclaims with a smile. "You sly son of a bitch! Well done. But I do have to ask, those guys at the impound, did they really smash my car?"

The captain shakes his head. "No, in fact, I had them wash it," he responds.

Jake immediately laughs. "Good one, Captain," he says in amusement. "You can't 'wash a car.'" Tisha's mouth gapes open and she looks up to Kat who dismisses her with a wave of her hand. "So, how'd you convince the whole squad to betray me? What'd you offer them?"

"I asked them if they wanted to embarrass you, and they instantly said yes."

"I'm not gonna lie, that turns me on a little bit."

"Hmm." Holt tilts his head at the detective with a small smile on his face. "So, in addition to the five weeks of free overtime, I believe I'm owed one more thing."

Jake sighs. "Yes," he concedes, inhaling a deep breath. "Here we go."

The captain holds a hand up at him. "One second." When he clicks his fingers, the glass clears, and Jake is staring at his friends recording him with wide grins.

"Very well. Captain Raymond Holt... You are an amazing police captain-slash-genius." The squad let out loud cheers. Jake suddenly leans across the table. "But be warned," he speaks lowly. "I started planning next year's heist just this minute."

Kat presses the button for the intercom. "Oh, buddy, you're already three months behind," she states with a click of her tongue.

Jake's nostrils flare as he glowers at Holt. "You sick son of a bitch."

⋆。 ﾟ✩。 ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

Kat wanted to see her sister's dance performance badly. Not just because she wanted to be supportive of her, but also because she desperately wanted to see how Terry was going to play a part in the routine. So, after dropping Tisha back home to go to bed, Kat, Rosa, and Amy head to the Boooo-ty Shake Grand Prix to watch the competition.

Gina watches the end of her former dance group's performance, muttering various insults at them under her breath, then becoming overwhelmed with sadness that they had kicked her out.

"Hey, don't look so glum," Terry tells her. "Floorgasm is just a rudderless dance ship without you."

Amy and Kat both nod along in agreement. "I would have gone with 'flock of dum-dums,'" Rosa says. Gina cracks a smile.

"We talked to Holt," Katherine begins. "We're all gonna pitch in and help you manage your time so you can keep going with dance and school." Gina's features soften as she looks at her sister.

"And I'd like to volunteer my time to tutor you for free," Amy says kindly.

"Mm, as much as I would love that..." Gina turns back to Kat. "Kitty Kat already offered." Kat wraps an arm around her shoulders. "But I do wanna thank you guys for being so understanding and nice. Now get your game face on. Sarge, it's time to dance! If you forget your moves, just rip your cape off and throw me up in the air like a pizza."

"Put your hands together for the dance duo, Mr and Mrs Terry Jeffords!"

Gina grins brightly as she watches Terry for his reaction, and the three women beside them burst into laughter. "I did not agree to that name," Terry yells as his partner runs off.

Kat takes one look at Jefford's expression and laughs into her drink. "This is going to be one of the highlights of my life," she declares.

Rosa glances to her and takes a second to stare at the woman highlighted by the warm lights. With the wig now discarded, Kat grins as she watches Gina and Terry jump up on stage. Green tendrils of ivy cover her face, trailing down her shoulders and meeting where the fabric of her dress begins. Rosa thinks she looks like a fairy. The more accurate word would be an angel.

As the music blares out of the speakers, Gina and Terry press their hands up against the other's as they begin to dance. Rosa places a hand on Kat's shoulder to keep herself steady as she laughs when Terry begins lifting Gina into the air.

The routine ends with Terry grinning brightly, holding her in his arms as she strikes a dramatic pose.

The final act of Halloween is something that Katherine Linetti had been planning for months. It's three in the morning, so even though it isn't technically still Halloween, the environment said otherwise. The streets of New York are still brimming with life as costumed citizens leave bars, clubs, or parties.

This particular act led them to Third Street in Brooklyn.

Kat grins as she pulls the mask over her face. She now looks identical to Terry, Rosa, Gina, and Amy, not to mention the large group of strangers that are crowded on the other side of the street.

The goal had been to dress like an incredibly popular horror movie villain so she could then blend in if things went sideways. Which, to her calculations, probably would.

The group of costumed masked killers all indulge in meaningless conversation as they watch Keith Pembroke get off his motorcycle as he returns home from a late-night shift. "Hey, Pembroke," Kat calls out calmly.

The Vulture looks up from his phone, eyes widening in alarm as he realises that, well, he's fucked. Kat lands a punch square in his face and shrieks with glee as she darts away.

"Oh, you're dead," he yells, his face reddening with fury. "You're dead!" But as he tries to find his assailant, he runs into a group of what must be thirty people all wearing the exact same costume—all the same as his attacker.

When they're far enough down the street, the squad from the Nine-Nine remove their masks breathlessly. "Okay that was amazing," Gina praises her sister with a grin.

"Agreed," Rosa laughs. "I've never been more in awe of you than right now."

A knowing smile grows on Amy's face as she watches her best friend's cheeks dust a light pink. "Yeah, I gotta admit, it was better than I could've imagined," Kat says. "I don't think there'll be much else in life that'll beat that."

"You're lucky I'm in full support of this crime," Terry deadpans. He sighs when all four women turn to him. "I hate the Vulture as much as you guys." He grins. "Terry is super happy right now."

Kat's face falls as she suddenly notices something over Gina's shoulder. "Uh, guys?" she speaks up nervously. "We have a problem."

Keith Pembroke's eyes have locked onto Katherine Linetti, as if he had known through some telepathic way that it had been her. "You're dead, Linetti," his voice booms across the street.

Gina's eyes widen in alarm, and she quickly ushers the group to run. "Go!" she shrieks. "Go, go, go!"

it's the small things that are killing me 😔