𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐭𝐰𝐨 | 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻

KATHERINE LINETTI IS SINGLE, AND she doesn't know how to feel about it. On one hand, she's mourning the loss of the relationship she had with Daisy, but on the other, she's beginning to deal with her feelings for Rosa. Despite the option for Tisha to handle everything for her (it was very appealing), Kat had taken things into her own hands. Surprisingly, it was one of the more... decent breakups she's ever had: no yelling, no smashing of vases, no wishing the other was dead.

When Daisy was told that her girlfriend was still in love with someone else, she smiled. She had known. Of course she had known. From the very first time she had seen Kat and Rosa together, she had known. It was blatantly obvious to everyone but them. She had been okay with being in a relationship with someone who wasn't over the other — it was clear that Kat wasn't ready to move on, and truth be told, Daisy hadn't been looking for a long-term relationship.

So she had pulled Katherine into a hug and whispered to her, She loves you too.

Kat woke up the following morning as a new person. Tisha had named it the 'Finally!' Era, much to her adoptive mother's displeasure. It seemed the name wasn't going away any time soon. Even Gina had grown fond of it. Actually, the entire squad, except Rosa, Hitchcock and Scully, are also fond of it.

Even though she was 'in a new era,' Kat didn't really feel like a new person. She wasn't wearing new clothes, her hair is still blonde, and she still drinks five cups of coffee on average per day. She just isn't in denial that she's in denial anymore.

She and Gina are going through the wedding photos that they've received when Charles finally decides to bring up the elephant in the room. "Jake, you gotta see this," he waves his best friend over eagerly. "There's something going on here. Something a little..." Charles slowly turns around to reveal the goatee he's grown. "Hairy."

With his hands on his hips, Jake shakes his head. "Nope," he replies, pointedly not looking at the man's facial hair. "Don't see anything out of the ordinary."

"Really?" Charles frowns. "Well, maybe I should... frame the question differently." He spins his chair around. "Terry, do you notice anything?" The sergeant shrugs and Charles grits his teeth together in annoyance. "Amy?" His brows raise as he bares his teeth in a smile.

"New shirt?" she suggests.

"Oh, come on, guys! I grew a goatee, and it looks amazing, and I know you can see it."

"Of course we can see it, Charles," Rosa confirms.

"It just looks horrible," Kat says.

Gina pauses skimming through the photos to remark, "It looks like you unclogged a shower drain with your mouth." Katherine quietly snickers.

Jake nods, waving a hand to the poster behind Charles. "Yeah, you look exactly like the guy in the 'Don't Talk to Stranger' poster."

Charles glances to it and rolls his eyes. "No, I don't," he states, holding his orange highlighter up just like the man in the poster.

"Are you talking about your new goatee?" Holt asks. He's walked out of his office from the commotion. "I think it's a good choice for your face." Charles smiles and gestures to him appreciatively. "Come over here, so I can take a better look."

"Come on," Kat mutters hopefully. "Take the steps, Boyle..."

"Thank you, Captain," Charles says, walking over to Holt like he had asked. "I knew you'd appreciate Bianca." The Linettis share almost identical grimaces. "That's right! I call her Bianca because she's dark and thick like my first cousin."

Holt leans forward, pretending like he's examining Charles's goatee. But of course the second the squad had learnt of the beard they had created a plan to get rid of it. "Jeffords, Peralta, now," he orders.

Terry suddenly grabs onto Charles tightly as Jake hurries over with clippers. "Say good-bye to Bianca, Boyle," Peralta says threateningly.

As the clippers turn on, Charles's eyes widen in pure horror. "Bianca! No!" Kat leans back in her chair as she cackles at his high-pitched scream.

⋆。 ﾟ✩ ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

Ever since she had come to the life-altering realisation that she's still in love with Rosa Diaz, Kat had tried absolutely everything to remain normal. Nothing had changed between them, so there wasn't any reason to act different around her. And the last thing she wanted was for Rosa to find out. She's in a loving relationship with Marcus, so it wouldn't be fair for Kat to drop 'I'm in love with you' on her. Well, at least that's what she tells herself.

The squad, save for Jake and Charles, are spread throughout the break room as they eat their lunch. Jake had told Kat first thing in the morning that his father, the infamous absentee Roger Peralta, was coming into town to 'spend time with his son.'

Kat had immediately told him that she thought it was bullshit. Roger had barely been in Jake's life, and suddenly out of the blue he comes to New York to have some father-son time? Naturally, she had come to the conclusion that Roger had an ulterior motive. He had to.

The group all look up when they hear a knock on the door. "Joining us for lunch, sir?" Terry questions the captain.

"Oh, no, I've already consumed the required calories for this day period," Raymond replies.

"Yummy," Rosa says flatly.

"But I do have some fun lunch chitchat." Kat's eyebrows raise curiously as she notices the file in his hand. "When I was a detective, my old C.O., Jim Martins, used to keep us on our toes by having us solve brain teasers. I thought maybe you'd like to try one."

"Don't just tease my brain, Captain," Amy says. "Really go to town on it."

"Bring it on, sir," Terry agrees. "I love puzzles. They're like power squats for your mind."

"Good," Holt nods. "Here's a problem." Amy clicks her pen to begin take notes. "There are twelve men on an island. Eleven weigh exactly the same amount, but one of them is slightly lighter or heavier. You must figure out which."

Gina hums, a slice of bread in her fingers. "And what do these men look like facially and with respect to their bodies?" she queries.

"It's unimportant."

"So, like Tyrese," she concludes. "It's a land of Tyreses."

Holt shrugs. "Sure," he dismisses. Katherine's eyes squint. "The island has no scales, but there is a seesaw. The exciting catch: you can only use it three times."

"That sounds super exciting," Rosa says, her tone dry and unimpressed. "Is this thing mandatory?"

Amy's eyes light up as she glances back to the captain. "Oh, I hope so. Please say yes."

"No," Holt responds. "But there is a prize for whoever solves it first."

"Sold," Kat declares instantaneously. Maybe she is rather competitive after all. "What's the prize?"

Raymond pulls out a pair of tickets from the file. "Two tickets to this Sunday's Beyoncé Knowles rock music concert," he reveals.

"I'm in," Rosa states quickly. She spots the strange looks from everyone. "Marcus loves Beyoncé, and I wouldn't mind beating the Sarge at something."

Kat scoffs at her confident remark. "In your dreams, Diaz," she retorts. "If any of you think you'll beat me..." She laughs. "Tish loves Beyoncé, too. I'm getting her those tickets."

"Everyone loves Beyoncé," Gina counters.

"My girls were conceived to Bootylicious," Terry says. His excitement fades away. "Don't tell my wife I told you that."

Everyone's returned to the bullpen for work by the time Jake gets the all-important message from his dad. Despite the brain teaser and its prize lingering in all their minds, they can't stop everything to work on it like they want to.

"Guys, my dad just texted," Jake announces as he reads the message. "He's in the building!" Katherine looks up from her paperwork. "Scully, stop eating. Terry, start flexing. Kat, arrest someone right now. Everybody be cool." She sighs and pushes her file back. This is only going to end with Jake getting hurt. Again.

The second she sees Roger come up the stairs in his pilot's uniform, she scowls. She has a very long list of reasons to not like the man. "Paging Detective Jake Peralta," he smiles.

Jake beams brightly at the sight of his father. "Ah, Dad!" he exclaims. He rushes over to hug him. Charles and Kat share a look. "Everyone, this is my dad. Hey, introduce yourself in your captain's voice."

"Folks, this is your pilot speaking, Captain Roger Peralta." Everyone but Charles and Kat smile. "If you look to your left, you'll see me, making your acquaintance." Jake laughs.

Charles jumps off his chair and approaches the man with a forced smile. "Hi, I'm Jake's best friend, Charles," he greets. "How are you?" Roger takes his hat off and shakes the detective's hand. "Pop quiz: what's Jake allergic to?"

"Bees," Roger answers immediately.

Charles leans forward slightly. "And wasps," he adds. "Guy didn't even include wasps. Huh!"

And it's then does Roger notice the woman he once called his daughter. "Kat," he exclaims in surprise, a smile on his face. "There's the daughter I never had!"

Her face remains blank. Maybe he still considers her a daughter after all. "Roger," she greets monotonously. "It's so wonderful to see you."

He points to her with a grin. "You too, kiddo." She rolls her eyes.

Jake's eyes widen as he spots the captain crossing the bullpen. "Oh, Captain Holt," he calls out. "Come meet my dad, Captain Peralta."

The two men step forward to shake hands. "Hello, Captain," Roger nods.

"Captain."

They both turn back to face Jake who awkwardly smiles. "This is super weird for me," he confesses.

"Captain."

"Captain."

As Holt walks off, Jake starts to properly introduce his father to the squad. "Anyways, you guys, my dad is the best pilot," he proclaims proudly. Roger waves a hand to him. "Tell them about Oregon."

Charles shuffles closer to Kat to mumble, "If I hear about Oregon one more time, I'll kill myself." She nods, just as annoyed by Roger's presence as he is.

To their displeasure, it happens. "Okay, so this one time I'm in Eugene, I'm hitching a ride in the jump seat of a commuter jet," Roger explains casually. "I'm sleeping off a wicked hangover." Charles yawns. "All of a sudden, there's a jolt and boom."

"A bird," Jake grins. "It was a bird."

"Yeah, we sucked a bird into our intake. Next thing I know, the cabin's filling up with smoke, alarm's going off, engine flames out and dies. We are in a dead stall. I look over at the pilot, Sam Power-"

"Great name," he and Jake both say together.

Kat rubs her forehead.

"He's white as a sheet. And he says to me – I'll never forget what he said. He says, 'Bobby's got a big ol' butt.'" Jake mouths along the words having memorised the story. "Turns out he's having a stroke. Bring the plane down on a highway, right across from a rest area." Charles yawns again. "Get on the PA, I say, 'Folks, coffee's on me.'"

Hitchcock laughs in disbelief. "Wow."

Applause carries across the bullpen and Kat heaves a sigh. "Beyoncé, save me," she mutters to herself.

"Amen, sister," Charles whispers. Neither of them understand why everyone is so impressed by the story. "Amen."

Roger waves a hand in dismissal at their praise. "Anyway, I'm not here to talk about me." He turns around to Jake. "I'm here to spend some time with my boy!"

Jake's bright smile hasn't disappeared since the second he had seen his father. And that's what makes Kat feel even sadder. "Ah, Dad." They share another manly hug, then Jake's eyes widen. "Oh, hey, let me give you a tour of the precinct! Ooh, you can interrogate one of my perps."

As they hurry out the bullpen, the two sergeants share an exasperated look. "No, he can't," Terry protests. "Don't do that, Jake!"

"Peralta!" Kat yells. Just before he disappears down the hallway, he blindly sends them a thumbs-up.

⋆。 ﾟ✩ ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

Almost everyone in the squad had stayed back to fill out some overtime. Kat had promised Tisha she would be home by eight for dinner, which meant she was leaving the precinct in twenty minutes. The teenage girl had asked to stay up later, which Kat had said no to, up until Tisha had boldly claimed that she could beat her mother at Monopoly. That's when Katherine gave in.

No one could beat her at Monopoly.

No one.

In between paperwork and working on cases, each person had been working on the brain teaser. After watching Terry throw eleven paper balls into the bin in the last ten minutes, Kat has gathered that he's getting rather frustrated by the puzzle.

Amy finishes pouring herself a cup of coffee and turns around to see the sergeant angrily throw another crumpled piece of paper away. "You might as well save yourself some paper and give up now, Sarge," she smirks. "You know I'm going to solve this first."

Terry leans back in his chair. "You probably can't tell, but I'm flexing my brain like crazy right now," he retorts with narrowed eyes as he tries to make it obvious.

Gina rolls her eyes at their confidence as she joins them. "Yeah, you're both wasting your time," she states. "Beyoncé's my spiritual twin. Those tickets are my birthright."

"No offence," Amy begins. "But this is gonna come down to me, the sarge, and Kat."

The woman in mention looks up from her desk and over to the group that have gathered in the kitchen. They all look over to her when she joins them. "I am pretty good at puzzles," Kat says with a smile.

Rosa's eyebrows furrow as she looks between Amy, Kat, and Terry with offence. "Whoa, you think you three are the only ones that can solve puzzles?"

Hitchcock wraps his arms around Gina and Rosa's shoulders as he places his head in between them. "Yeah, what about Rosa, Gina, and me?" Gina plants her hand on his face to push him away.

"Is this how you want to die, Hitchcock?" Rosa asks him, entirely serious.

Amy sighs. "Look, it's just that we're really into puzzles," she explains. "Remember when Kat and I went on that Sudoku cruise?" Katherine nods, recalling the day when she had been asked to join her on the weeklong boat trip — she had gone along to be a good friend. It was one of the best-slash-worst weeks of her life. "I never even went on deck."

"Hundred bucks says Gina and I can solve this thing before you three puzzle dorks," Rosa declares.

Terry and Amy share a look, and the latter scoffs in amusement. "Deal," Terry agrees. He and Rosa shake hands.

Gina arches a brow at her sister. "An extra hundred bucks that I'll beat you," she proposes a different bet.

Kat shrugs. "I mean, I don't really have time, so... You know what, I'll just step back now." Their eyes widen in surprise, but they all smile as they realise that there's one less person in the race.

Hitchcock reappears between Rosa and Gina. "You're going down," he taunts Amy and Terry.

"You're really not a part of this, Hitchcock."

⋆。 ﾟ✩ ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

The following morning, it wasn't long at all before the different teams began their sessions on how to solve the puzzle. Swamped with paperwork from a homicide she had solved last week, Kat finds herself in the middle of both teams, able to see into both of their theories and brainstorming sessions. And no one had protested against her presence; they all wanted the self-proclaimed genius's opinion.

The sisters are in the break room when Rosa strides in. "All right, there is no way we let Amy and the sarge beat us," she says firmly. She perches on the end of the pool table to face Gina, both women holding the sheet of paper in their hands. "We sit here until we figure this thing out. Sarge, feel free to interrupt if you have an idea."

Kat sighs as she pauses typing on her laptop. "Guys, I'm not here as a contestant," she tells them. "I'm here working." Rosa hums, not entirely believing that she's suddenly stepped away from the competition she was so eager to win yesterday.

"Rosa, my mind is ready," Gina announces.

"Okay." Rosa glances down to the sheet of paper. "'There's an island with twelve men.'"

"Oh, I'm so bored," Gina exclaims. She falls sideways onto the couch. "I cannot do it."

"I can do this. One guy's slightly heavier... There's a seesaw." Rosa's lips tug into the smallest of smiles. "I got it."

As they hurry out to the captain's office, Kat heaves a sigh and shuts her computer, following them to get an arrest record signed off. She knocks on the door, arriving just in time to see the theory presented.

Rosa slams the paper down in front of Holt. "You use the seesaw to press down on their necks until fatty confesses."

"Incorrect," Holt replies almost immediately.

Gina throws her head back in frustration. "Damn!"

"And disturbing," the captain adds. As Gina and Rosa rush out to continue working on the puzzle, his eyes meet Katherine's. "Sergeant, do you have a theory as well?"

She shakes her head with a small smile, presenting him with her pile of stapled documents. "I got one better, sir," she counters. "One giant arrest report for you to sign off on."

"You've disappointed me, Linetti," Raymond states. She winces. "I would have assumed you to figure it out first considering you are the smarter of detectives in this precinct."

"Unfortunately, Captain, I have a pile of open cases that are a little more important than a brain teaser. No offence."

"Very well. Dismissed."

Kat had well and truly planned to go back to her desk until she had caught sight of the box in Amy's hand. She recognises this specific box all too well. With her mouth watering at the thought of Greek donuts, she follows the detective into the evidence room.

Neither Terry or Amy blink an eye as Kat settles down behind them with her laptop. The desktop is piled with yellow notepads, different calculations written down on each piece but none being the correct answer they want.

"Okay, look. Let's try a new approach." Amy opens the box of donuts and Kat quickly hurries over to grab one. Terry looks on as Amy begins to place the donuts out on the desk to imitate the puzzle. "We weigh these three islanders against these three islanders. If they weigh the same, we eliminate them, and if they don't, we..." She finally looks up to notice that four of the donuts are missing. "Where'd they go?"

Terry points to his mouth. "Terry's mouth is full of donuts."

"Mine too," Kat speaks up. Terry grabs another donut and throws it straight into her mouth. "Jordan!" she cheers with a muffled voice.

Amy looks between them with visible annoyance. "You said we could eliminate 'em!" Terry protests defensively.

Kat quickly points to him when her best friend's gaze moves to her. "Only if they weigh the same," Amy counters. "Kat, stop eating the donuts." She grumbles something inaudible and returns to her work.

"We've been here forever," Terry says. "I'm getting snacky."

Amy sighs. "Fine. Let's start over. Okay, we balance three against three, and if they weigh the same, we just... What just happened?" Terry and Kat look entirely innocent with icing covering their mouths. Amy throws her hands up. "Come on! Stop eating the islanders."

"I'm saving them from this weight-obsessed nightmare island," Terry explains reasonably.

"By murdering them?"

"I warned you against using donuts! They're my trigger food." Amy sighs as he grabs the box closer to him and begins stuffing his mouth with the donuts. "These islanders are delicious," Terry declares.

When Kat realises Amy is staring at her, she swallows her mouthful. "I'm just hungry," she says innocently.

"Get out of here," Santiago yells.

⋆。 ﾟ✩ ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

"Kevin asked if yourself and Daisy would like to come to dinner on Saturday," Raymond reveals. "He's making his infamous rice." Kat's eyes widen in surprise. "Unless you've already made plans."

"Oh." She dryly swallows before placing a smile on her face. "I, uh, I broke up with Daisy." He nods in understanding, almost like he's barely surprised by her words. "But I'd love to come if the offer still stands."

"Of course," Holt replies, his eyes softening as he realises that she's trying to hold herself together for his sake. "Rock Three-Seventy-One has your name printed on it, right in the bottom left corner. Kevin suggested I place it in the top right, but it was ludicrous. There was no negative space!"

"Insanity," she shakes her head with a scoff.

They both look up when Rosa and Gina enter the office. "Oh, sorry to interrupt," Rosa says before clearing her throat.

"We were just talking about rocks," Katherine grins. Both women look between their bosses with confusion.

"Are you here because you've solved my brain teaser?" Holt questions.

Gina places her hands on the back of Kat's chair. "Sir, you've been an underdog your whole life," she begins melodramatically. Kat and Raymond meet eyes. "But you defied the odds by having others secretly help you 'cause you didn't have what it took."

"That's not my story."

"That's not his story."

Gina brushes over their words like they had never said anything. "But now we're the underdogs," she points to herself and Rosa, "and we're the ones who need a handout, so just tell us the answer. Or have you forgotten where you come from?"

Kat barks a laugh and glances back to Holt. "Sir," she says in amusement. She crosses her arms as she shifts her body in the chair, giving herself a more comfortable position to be able to look between her friends and captain.

He nods. "Sergeant Linetti is right. I'm not gonna help you."

"I told you that was not gonna work," Rosa critiques her teammate.

"Stop the clock," Amy announces. She and Terry walk in with smiles. "We're here, and we have the solution." She presents Holt with her notepad. "First, you weigh six versus six."

"Wrong," Holt interjects. "That'll never work. You just wasted your time and mine." With wide eyes and her lips parted in shock, Amy gingerly takes the notepad back.

Gina has taken out her phone to get a memento of the moment. "Click! I just captured the exact moment when you realised you have failed." Amy stares at her. "I guess we all got something out of this."

Kat grabs one of the pens on Holt's desk and throws it at her sister, smiling to herself when it whacks Gina on the head. "Bullseye!" A small smile adorns Amy's face for a short second.

After sending Katherine a very deadly glare, Gina ignores her and returns to her phone to see the photograph. "So that's it?" Holt speaks up. "This problem is beyond all of you? No one solved it."

"Believe me," Amy says quietly. "No one is more disappointed in me than me." Kat grimaces – she doesn't want to have to be the one to bring up what just happened.

"'Than I,' Santiago," Holt corrects. Amy freezes in horror.

Gina shuffles forward again with her phone. "Click."

⋆。 ﾟ✩ ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

It's the end of shift when Rosa and Gina walk out into the bullpen with one of the answers to the problem. Holt has his bag in hand as he heads out for the day but stops when Rosa calls out for him. "Wait, Captain. Gina and I figured out your dumb brain teaser."

"I highly doubt that, sir," Amy chuckles.

"I'll judge for myself, Santiago. Okay, Diaz. What's the solution?"

"We have no idea," Rosa says.

Amy smiles. "Ha! Told ya."

"But neither do you, sir," Rosa continues. Kat leans against her desk, her brows raised in surprise. She's impressed they finally figured it out. Amy and Terry look to each other in confusion. "Captain Holt, you don't know what the solution is."

"Excuse me?"

"Here's how we cracked it," Gina begins with a smile. "I took the photo of you demolishing Amy's spirit and made these clever t-shirts that say, '#nerdfail.'" She unrolls the blue shirt in her hand to reveal the photo of Amy printed onto it.

"It's not that clever," Amy mumbles. Kat notes to burn all the t-shirts that were made.

"It's hilarious," Gina argues.

Rosa nods her head. "Look at this." She points to Holt who is in the bottom of the photo. "Your expression is the same as Amy's because you're both devastated that you just let down you r mentors."

Gina drops the shirt and folds her arms over her chest. "I looked at your calendar. You're supposed to have breakfast with your old C.O."

"You wanted us to solve the problem before you saw him," Rosa concludes.

Amy shakes her head at them in amusement. "That's crazy," she says.

"Not crazy," Kat calls out. Amy's eyes widen as the blonde walks over to them. "They're right."

"What?" Her eyebrows shoot up as she spins back around to Holt for confirmation. He merely nods at Kat's statement. "No."

"He posed that problem to me twenty years ago," Raymond explains to them. "Every time I see him, he asks, 'Do you have the answer yet?' And I never have. Those islanders and their pathetic seesaw haunt my dreams. They mock me in my sleep, riding up and down on a teeter-totter of taunts."

"Cool," Gina says simply. "So who gets the Beyoncé tickets?"

⋆。 ﾟ✩ ⋆。 ﾟ☀︎。 ⋆

The next evening, the squad meet up at Shaw's after their shift for a drink that Roger Peralta had claimed would be on him. Jake and Charles had filled Kat in on what had happened yesterday, and it turns out she had been right after all. Roger had been under investigation for smuggling prescription drugs from Canada and had then convinced his son to fly to Quebec to try and prove his innocence.

Whilst Jake and Charles managed to do so, Kat's opinion on the winner for absentee father of the century hasn't changed. Just to prove her thoughts even more, Jake had just received a message from his dad to say that he wasn't coming to the event he himself had organised.

After being given a stern but soft talk from Katherine on how he shouldn't have to hold his dad to the high standard that he does and how he deserves someone better than whatever Roger likes to call himself, Jake had left to find his father and tell him how he really feels.

That then left Charles having a few too many beers himself and Kat returning to the brain teaser group. "I got to say," Terry starts, handing Gina and Rosa their glasses. "Figuring out Captain Holt didn't know the answer was an incredible solve."

Amy grimaces slightly. "I'm sorry if we implied you weren't smart."

"I'm just surprised Kat didn't figure it out first," Gina confesses.

Her sister scoffs. "What made you think I didn't figure it out?" She takes a sip of her beer as they all turn to look at her. "Please, I figured it out the second he gave us the problem. He was reading it aloud in a way where he was trying solve it out at the same time."

Rosa sighs. "I'm not even surprised anymore." They all nod in agreement and Kat's smile widens. "Cheers."

As they all clink their glasses, Holt approaches them and raises his own drink. "Next round's on me," he says. "It's the least I can do for teasing your brains so mercilessly."

"So, what are you gonna say to your old C.O. tomorrow when he asks if you've solved the puzzle?" Amy questions curiously.

"I don't know," he replies. "Thanks for bringing that up. Fun chat."

"Just say you're a captain now, and you're busy running a precinct, so he can go suck an egg," Gina suggests. Kat hums: it's one of the better insults she's come up with.

"Or we can all work together all night long, and I'm sure we can eventually figure it out," Terry smiles reassuringly.

"I like that, Terry," Holt acknowledges. "It shows real heart. But I'm going with Gina's 'suck an egg' idea."

"Actually, there's no need for either of those," Kat announces. "Because I have the answer to your brain teaser." The group immediately falls dead silent.

After a pause too long, Holt impatiently waves a hand at her. "What are you waiting for?" he speaks a little too loudly.

"First, you split the solutions into three equal groups for the first weighing. So, any four islanders against another four. There's multiple possible outcomes. One is if the scale balances, one of the remaining islanders not weighed –nine, ten, eleven, or twelve – is either heavy or light. You have four islanders, one of which is heavier or lighter. You need the next weighing to reduce the eight possibilities to three. So, you weigh nine to eleven against one to three, which you know are all the same weight."

Gina has already dropped her head onto the bar table in boredom. Everyone else either understands everything she's saying or is completely lost.

"If the seesaw balances, twelve is the odd islander and you can weight them against one of the others to find if they're lighter or heavier. If the nine to eleven side drops, one of them is heavy. You weigh nine against ten to find the answer, otherwise it's eleven. You repeat it if nine to eleven rises instead."

Holt's eyes are comically wide as he stares at the detective in disbelief. "Hot damn," he exclaims.

"I didn't get any of that," Rosa admits, blinking her eyes repeatedly.

"I'm strangely attracted to you right now," Amy confesses to her best friend.

Kat grins. "So now you can say whatever you want to your C.O.," she tells the captain.

His eyes are focused into the space in front of him as he mutters, "I've got you now, you old bag."

Gina, who has woken up from her brief nap, immediately goes to the most pressing matter at hand. "So, who won the tickets?"

"Kat," Rosa tells her as if it's obvious. "It's clearly Kat."

Terry holds a hand up. "Uh, technically, you aren't in the competition," he points out.

Kat shrugs. "I withdrew because I had it figured out in the first ten minutes," she says. Amy's face falls. "I just left it to the last second to screw with you all."

"Yeah, that tracks," Terry mumbles.

"The whole thing is simple math; I'm kinda shocked none of you got it." Katherine sighs happily as Raymond hands her the two tickets for Beyoncé. "Thank you."

Holt shakes his head at her, his own small smile on his face. "No, thank you."

Gina's eyes widen when her sister hands her a ticket. "Wait..."

"It's your birthright," Kat reminds her with a smile. "Plus, when I told Tish last night that I'd already won I promised she could go with you."

"Oh-ho-ho-ho!" Gina squeals in excitement, leaping off her chair to wrap her arms around her sister's body. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she yells excitedly. "You are my favourite person in the world. I'm seeing Beyoncé, bitches!"

As Kat returns to her drink, she smiles when Rosa takes the seat next to her. "So, you owe me a hundred bucks," she says.

Rosa rolls her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." Kat laughs. "So, uh, I heard about Daisy." Her lips purse when her friend falls quiet. "Sorry."

She sighs. "It's okay, but thanks." When Rosa doesn't press her further on the matter, a soft smile graces her face. "You know, we're due for another Monopoly round."

"Let me guess, you're gonna beat me again."

"I thought you knew what you signed up for."

"Yeah... I did." Rosa can't help but smile as something crosses her mind. "I got an idea," she speaks up. Katherine's eyebrows raise curiously. "Wanna get out of here?"

"Depends if you're gonna kill me or not." She grins when Rosa turns to her with a very unamused look. "Kidding. I'm in."

The curly-haired woman downs the rest of her beer and sets the bottle down. "Great," she declares. "'Cause we have some axes to throw."

Kat's eyes widen with pure excitement as they make their way out of the bar. "Oh, my God, you're taking me axe throwing?" Even Tisha had suggested the activity for her to try and release some of her pent-up emotions. Going with Rosa is just a bonus, she can't think of anyone better than her to do this with.

And so the next two hours are spent with Kat throwing sharp weapons at targets as she beats Rosa Diaz's best of all-time record.

𝘪 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘬𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘳. 𝘪'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘖𝘕𝘛𝘏𝘚

𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘸 😗