Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Shit!". He yelled, hitting the table in the interrogation room.

He was in the opposite side of the table he was used to, cuffed, looking at his reflection in the fake mirror, just as all the perps he arrested across the years. How did I get in this situation he asked himself. He knew the exact answer. 

2 years and 5 months and 20 days earlier

Jake Peralta’s life have not been easy his father left him and his mother at a young age. In school he was never part of the popular kids, he was not really part of any group at all. However, when he became a cop his life completely changed for the better, he found purpose and appreciation in his job. He made good friends, including someone he could see as a real father whose advise he trusted more than anything (well almost), that was the main reason he got himself in this situation. But most importantly he met her, Amy Santiago. A beautiful and intelligent woman, cute in all possible ways, someone whose opinion he valued more than anything. However, by the time he realized how he felt she was with Teddy. Oh, how he hated Teddy, you could add him to the list of reasons he took this assignment, which made him leave his dream job.

Long story short Jake Peralta got himself fired of the NYPD in order to work with the FBI in an undercover operation that could do a lot of good for the city. Because the nature of this op none of his friends in the 99 could know the real reason from him leaving, the only one who did know about the operation was Captain Holt, but he would not have any form of contact with Peralta while he was undercover. In other words, Jake was completely alone, and he felt like it. Knowing he was not going to come back in a long time, maybe ever, he decided to say goodbye to Amy, which was going to be even more difficult after all the insults directed to cops he yelled while leaving the precinct in order to set up his cover as a mad fired detective.

"Hey". He said, when he finally found her in the parking lot minutes before going home.

"If it isn’t mister, I hate cops now". She responded, looking at him with annoyance in her face but he could also see sadness and betray in her eyes, very similar to the way he looked when his father left. "What do you want Peralta? ". But even like that she looked more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen.

"Amy, I…". He stopped, if he chose the wrong words, he could blow his cover jeopardizing the operation. "I just wanted to say that I wished that something happened between us, romantic styles". Her annoyance changed to surprise. "But I understand that you are with Teddy now and with me being fired and all I don’t.......think that we are going to talk for a long while……so this is goodbye, I guess.". Rejection would be too painful right now and he didn’t want her to feel obligated to say anything. So after that he just kept walking leaving her without the chance to answer.

His next stop was going to a bar where he would meet some members of the mafia and with some luck become one of them. As it turned out, luck was on his side, by acting extremely drunk (he was only a little drunk) and telling them his story he got in. His job was simple, drive around a minor guy in the mob. Because his knowledge of the neighborhood and his past as a detective in the 99 his bosses kept him in Brooklyn.

Every day since his last “conversation” with Amy flew for Jake, by the time the 6 months the op was supposed to last were over he had barely got any information with little to no evidence on some minor members of the mafia. The assignment was going to take more time.

If he wanted to go back to his life, he needed to make more progress fast. And one day he got his chance.

Present

The sound of the door crashing brought him back to the present. He knew the procedure in cases like this, sooner or later a detective would come to question him, he only hoped it wasn’t her, he didn’t feel ready to see her again just yet.

The detective who just entered the interrogation room and smashed the door was Rosa Diaz, it made sense. She met Jake in the academy making them good friends which meant she knew a lot of things about him but could also be objective while interrogating him, she wouldn’t put their friendship first unlike Charles or Terry.

"So". She looked at him the way she would look any other perp she caught. "The mob now hires failed cops?" . She dropped the file she held in her hand in the table and seated on the chair in front of him,

Diaz was a good detective and she knew how to press his buttons, if his cover was real the mention of him as a failed cop would probably work. Lucky for Jake it wasn’t, but Rosa didn’t know he was “fired” to work with the FBI. How could he get out of this situation?, the easy way out would be telling her about his real mission, if she didn’t believe him she could just go and ask Captain Holt.

Then he realized, where the hell was Captain Holt?. Surely, he would be the one to interrogate him in order to help him get out or something like that. He didn’t know what had happened in the precinct in the last years, maybe Holt wasn’t appointed to the 99 anymore.

"I asked you a question! ". She yelled hitting the table with her left hand. Rosa may have always been good hiding her emotions, but not this time. She was furious and he could tell. She obviously expected him to jump or show a reaction to the hit, but he stood there motionless looking at her right in the eyes. His time in the mafia had changed him.

Okay so logic said Holt wasn’t at the precinct, the best shot he had was waiting for him to come to aid him. So, he needed to buy time.

"Well Flowers, I am just a normal, innocent civilian. I have no idea what you are talking about." . He responded with a smirk in his face. He wanted to maintain his cover as an asshole detective that was fired from the force. And if he confessed he worked for the mafia he would go to prison.

"My name is Detective Diaz, you call me Flowers again and I will hit that smirk off your face-. He knew she hated being called Flowers, because in the academy one of their instructors came up with that nickname after hearing her name. 

In response to her threat he only laughed. If she told him that 2 years ago, he would certainly back off, but now it barely had any impact on him. He knew laughing would make her angrier.

"Cut the shit Jake, you know we got you. We have evidence you have been working for the Ianuccis for the last two years, and we know you have ties to some of the big guys"

"I have no idea what you are talking about detective". He said detective with a stupid silly voice that he knew she wouldn’t like at all.

As he expected she saw him with fury.

"You were caught in a building full of crates with guns and heroin, we have been scouting the place for months". She showed him some pictures from the file of the building and the crates. "We caught 13 other guys with previous felonies, some have served time for murder. Now look at this". She took other pictures from the file. "This is the gun we found you with, it has your prints all over and it was missing 5 bullets, the exact number of gunshots that prevented our strike team from rushing the position they found you in. Which translates to you shooting police officers". She made a pause, the hate in her look changed to concern.

"You know what that means Jake, you could go to jail for 25 years or more. You have two choices you can either play ball with us by helping us take down your mafia or you can keep being an asshole and rot in jail. Your choice". Her voice broke a little bit with the last words. He could swear her eyes were a little red, she stood up and left. Smashing the door again in her way out. He felt bad about hurting his friends, but everything would be cleared soon enough.

Still, Jake Peralta was screwed. The evidence was there, he could get charged and put on trial. The FBI would help him, so there was no way he was going to jail. But that meant the nature of his mission would be revealed and all his work would be for nothing, not everyone would go down with the ship. And he was so close.

"Jake Peralta you have 2 choices, you can either talk to Rosa about your assignment which would get you out of trouble but it would make all your work for the past 2 years worthless or you can wait for Holt to show up and get you out of here so you can get back to work, but if he doesn’t come soon you will probably end up getting charged and by the time everything is cleared your work for the last 2 years will be worthless. Dammit Holt! You better come back soon". He said to himself.

At least the worst part was over. The interrogation was over for now, his situation could only get better from here on now. He just had to seat there and wait for Holt to come, worst case scenario Rosa would come back to see if he had made up his mind.

That is what he truly thought until half an hour after Rosa left, she came in. Amy Santiago, the only person he thought about every day for the last 2 years and 5 months, the one who he missed the most. If he could only tell her the true about the last 2 years.

Chapter Text

Jake Peralta believed that everything was going to be alright, Captain Holt would eventually come and get him out somehow. He would go back with his cover intact and get the little evidence he needed to tear down the whole mafia. Then he would come back to his normal life, everything would go back to normal with his friends after some apologies of course.

And with some luck, just a little bit of luck, by the time all that happened Amy was going to be single again and maybe he would get a chance with her. One chance is all he needed. But Jake Peralta was wrong, everything was not going to be alright.

When Amy Santiago entered the interrogation room the way he pictured his life in a few weeks was completely shattered. She looked exactly like she did 2 years ago (pantsuit, ponytail) at least as beautiful as he remembered.  The difference was now she hated his guts, the look she had was a mix of sadness, betrayal and anger. Of course she felt betrayed, her partner and one of her best friends became the very same thing they were trained to put in jail. If he didn’t manage to be an asshole to her in order to prevent her from asking too many questions his cover would be blown.

But then he entered the room holding two coffees. Teddy Wells, fucking Teddy was here in the 99. He was probably transferred sometime after Jake got fired. The 99 needed a detective, Teddy was a pretty good one and he had reasons to transfer. It seemed they were still together. Their relationship lasted a lot more than Jake would have hoped. Then it hit him, what if they were married, his heart felt like it was being thorn open.

“Well, if it isn’t Detective Santiago and Detective Goods. How it feels to be the replacement for the great detective Peralta, Teddy? Are you sure you are not overextending yourself?” said Jake with a grin in his face.  

Teddy was about to make a response to his comment when his phone rang, he quickly put the coffees on the table took his phone out of his pocket and answered.

“Captain, give me a second”. He gave a gesture to Amy and left the room. With the only person he wanted to be an asshole in the room gone he was back to freaking out about the thought he had earlier.

“Come on Peralta you are a detective look at the clues”. He started having a conversation with himself in his mind. “Let’s see, he came in with two coffees which doesn’t mean anything, he could do that as her colleague. Mmm she has her hands crossed behind her so I can’t see if she has a ring. By the time I left they were probably together for about 3 months if I remember correctly, if you add that to the 2 years and 5 months since then, they have been together for almost 3 years, too short for Santiago to agree to marry him. Just planning for the wedding would probably take 1 year, but wait, she is Amy Santiago, she could organize a huge wedding in 24 hours with time to spare. Still, the Santiago I know would probably be with a guy for 3 years or more before she even considered getting married. It would mess up her life calendar. As usual she would overthink the hell out of it. I know they are still together, if they broke up, they couldn’t work together, at least not like direct partners. I don’t know about Teddy but Amy sucks at handling awkward situations, situations just like the one her and I are in right now, that explains why she is avoiding eye contact and is standing so far from me.

Amy was “checking” something in her phone. The silence between the two became even more awkward, she should be interrogating him, trying to get him to cooperate with the police, instead she stood far from the table looking at everything in the room but him. Amy couldn’t bring herself to do it, at least not yet.

Teddy came back about 2 minutes later. He took one of the coffees he previously left on the table and gave it to Amy, then he seated in front of Jake.

“Let’s begin. Jake Peralta. I am Detective Wells and this is Detective Santiago. As Detective Diaz already told you with the evidence we have you are looking at 25 years in jail.”

“At minimum”. Amy murmured in a low voice.

“If you want to leave this room without handcuffs cooperating with the police is your only choice. Because of this Detective Santiago and I came to offer you…- He was interrupted by Jake’s loud laugh. “What is so funny? “  he asked him with a serious look on his face.

“Well Detective Wells” He said it in a very fake loud voice, very similar to the voice of narrators in old movie trailers. “I just think that’s funny how fast you want to cut a deal with me, I haven’t been arrested for even one day. It’s so clear you don’t have shit on this mafia you say I work for. You are very desperate.”

Just before Teddy replied Jake interrupted again.

“Before they fired me, they should have at least found a decent replacement. I don’t think even Santiago can carry the weight of a useless detective like yourself. She needs a dect partner.”

Just like that Jake got under Teddy’s skin. He could see the anger in his eyes, one of his hands closed into a fist. Teddy went from a smart and controlled detective to a ticking bomb. It was easier than he thought it would be.

“Stop with the bullshit!". She hit the table. “You are just wasting time. You are smart enough to know we are your last chance to not live in prison for the rest of your live with all the criminals you put there”. No longer was she avoiding any way of contact with him, she was now talking to him with her usual interrogation voice, leaning with both hands on the table and looking at him directly in the eyes with nothing but hate.

Jake laughed.

“I always knew that Santiago was the one who wears the pants in your relationship." Jake responded with a grin. Just in the moment Teddy was about to say something Jake interrupted again. “Also, If I’m wasting anyone’s time is yours, because I have time to spare”. That wasn’t true.

“From the moment you were arrested you exactly had 24 hours before you were prosecuted, trialed and sent to prison, normally you would have 48 hours, but your case is special because you were a detective.” He pulled his left sleeve up revealing a steel watch” According to my watch here, you have been in this interrogation room for about 4 hours. The next thing is very important so I’m going to tell you in words you can understand: your time is running out”. Jake really hated this guy.

He knew Teddy wasn’t that bad. But Jake really hated seeing Amy with Teddy, not because he just wanted her to be with him and with nobody else or some possessive crap like that. Seeing him with her just reminded him of many insecurities and faults he saw in himself, the things that would prevent him from being with Amy.

While Teddy was organized, Jake wasn’t. While Teddy was responsible, Jake wasn’t. While Teddy was the perfect man for Amy in every aspect. Jake wasn’t. So, if he was being an asshole with Teddy it was in order to maintain his cover.

It wouldn’t look good for the NYPD if one of their own turned after being fired by working for one of the biggest crime families in the city. By reducing the time before prosecution, they reduced the possibility of the case getting a lot of attention from the press. The faster he got in jail, the faster could they get the entire thing behind.

Being realistic the only way he was going to escape a police station was during the night, officers were tired and less alert, and he could just dive into the shadows of the city. He had to escape before morning came, that was about 6 hours from now.

“Peralta” he focused all his attention when she said his name. “You know you are guilty and there is no way you go out as a free man without our help.  You can either cooperate with us by giving out information of your bosses or have a horrible life in prison. Which is it going to be?”. She looked him right in the eyes, he felt lost. But he needed managed to focus again.

Jake already thought about all that would happen to him if he really worked for the mafia, got arrested and didn’t speak, prison that’s what would happen to him most likely. But he was in an undercover operation, when the news reached agent Clarke, he would explain the situation. He wasn’t scared of jail; he feared what would happen to the operation if he didn’t get out on time.

Which is it going to be?, the question kept repeating on his mind. While the threats didn’t have any effect on him something did. Teddy’s watch, it brought some memories back. Memories he pushed back for more than a year.

Different images came directly into his mind, a brown car, a revolver, a piece of lasagna, a broken window, a bloody steel watch and a bell.

It became hard to breath, a deep pain invaded his right shoulder. As he drifted off he could hear Teddy speaking, probably asking him questions.

“Hey!”. Car. “HEY!”. Revolver. “Peralta!”. Broken Window. Bell.

“Jake!” her voice brought him back to reality.

“Huh?” he managed to mumble.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked.

“Oh nothing, is just that Teddy you are sooooo boring I almost fell sleep. You seriously don’t get tired of this guy Santiago?”

The bomb exploded, Teddy quickly got up and pulled Jake from his t shirt. His right fist was 2 seconds away from Jake’s face when Amy pulled him back from the table. Yeah maybe he pushed too far.

Amy saw Teddy with confusion and anger, she quickly took him by his arm and left the interrogation room.

Jake with nothing else to do continued with his asshole persona.

“I’M SO GOING TO SUE YOU!”

As they left the interrogation room, Rosa came out from the adjacent room. She saw what happened through the fake mirror.

“What the fuck Teddy?”. Rosa yelled; she was clearly angry. If she was angry because what Teddy almost did could cause the precinct a lot of problems or because he almost hit one of her best friends wasn’t clear.

“Rosa I’ll take care of this.” Amy said with confidence.

Rosa clearly wasn’t done with her screaming, but she trusted Amy.

“I’ll see if I can prevent a sue on your stupid ass”

The female detective walked away.

“What the hell happened in there?” She practically yelled. “You almost assaulted a suspect”.

“Come on Amy there is no chance that guy is innocent.”

“Still, that’s police brutality. If you laid one finger on him even if we proved he was guilty the precinct would be in serious trouble.” She showed the frustration in her voice. “You are never like these, did those things he said about you really affected you?”

“Of course, they did, and you know why”. He looked directly into her eyes.

“I thought we got over that”. She said in frustration.

2 years and 4 months earlier.

“So this guy I met in the conference told me about this new method to brew…………..”

Amy stopped paying attention, after all it was just going to be another stupid story about pilsners. And her thoughts were driving her to that night again. The night she last saw Jake Peralta.

It had been a month since he got fired and vanished from the face of the Earth. Him missing form the precinct was very noted. His laugh, pranks and absurd comments were missed by everyone.

If she wasn’t confused enough with all the events in that day at the end of it her partner said she liked her, romantic styles. Now every once in a while, her mind would take her to Jake, the way he looked when he was cracking a case, his laugh, his smile. She didn’t understand why she was having these thoughts, but she was having them. And they were affecting her current relationship.

Teddy was a great guy, they had so much in common. At the beginning it was great, but lately she felt confused about her feelings towards him too.  His stories stopped being interesting, their date routine became well a routine. Movies at Tuesdays and Thursdays and dinner at Friday or Saturday.

Amy Santiago, a woman who usually had every tiny aspect of her life planned, didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t breakup with Teddy because she didn’t know why she wanted to do it or even if she wanted to do it at all. She couldn’t talk with Jake about everything because she couldn’t find him.

Her days were reduced to a somber precinct with a huge hole at day and a somber apartment with boring stories at night.

“Hey! Amy?”. He put his hand in her shoulder.

“Huh?”

“Are you even listening to me?”. He said with annoyance in his voice.

“Of course….mmmm you were talking about pilsners?.” She tried her best to not roll her eyes because of the mention of pilsners.

“Good guess but that is no longer the point. You have been acting weird for the last few weeks. Is everything okay?” 

He was a detective which meant he could read her without much trouble. If she lied, he was going to see right through her.

So, she just confessed what happened between her and Jake the night he was fired.

“Why the hell you didn’t tell me before?”. His voice was full of anger and jealousy.

“I didn’t know how you would take it.” He was pacing throughout the room.

“So, what does his “confession” has to do with us?”

“I don’t know, I just feel confused.”

“What!, so you do like him?.” His voice got more tense.

“No is not like that. I’m confused by everything that happened that day.”

“Is not that confusing Amy, Peralta screwed up and got himself fired, end of the story.” He practically yelled.

“I just feel like our relationship is out of sync. I need some time to think things through.”

He looked directly into her eyes for a second before yelling “Fine” and leaving her apartment smashing the door in his way out.

Amy felt overwhelmed, Teddy reacted worse than she thought he would. He was a good guy he didn’t deserve this. At least now that she was alone with her thoughts, she may be able to figure everything out.

Present

She hadn’t seen Jake in more than 2 years. Now she is doing it from the other side of the fake mirror. She thought that maybe he moved out of the city, as far from the 99 as possible. She didn’t think that he joined the Ianucci crime family. She didn’t think he could become a criminal.  How did it happen?

His hair was very short, preventing it from curling, his body looked stronger, his clothes were practically the same, a blue plaid shirt and dark jeans. She could see he had some small scars in his face. The same went for his hands, specially the knuckles. But the biggest change she perceived was in his attitude, his face most of the time was serious and inexpressive. He wasn’t nervous or scared.

Amy knew that look; she could see the gears turning in his head. He was cracking a case, but she didn’t have any idea which case could it be.

“Are you sure you are okay with doing the interrogation alone?” Rosa asked from her right.

She wasn’t, she wasn’t even sure of doing the interrogation with Teddy,  but that was the only way to get the answers she wanted.

“Yeah, I kno…knew him. I think I can make him cooperate. At least I have a bigger chance than Terry or Charles.”

“Fair enough. I have to go back to the docks to check the crime scene again.” Rosa got closer and murmured. “Don’t let anyone but you enter the room. That includes Wells.”

“Don’t worry. Text me if you find anything.”

Rosa gave her a nod and left. She put her eyes back on him.

"Man I dont' know how Batman does it is super scary up here"  he said as he stood in the highest point of the rooftop. Amy laughed

"Hey would you grab my binoculars they are in my stake out bag"  

"Your stake out bag is 98% nuts" 

"I get snaky, besides nuts are super healthy they are like 0% fat".

"Jake thats not true at all is actually the opposite". 

"What? that nut vendor lied to me!". She laughed again. 

An entire night at the dispose of Jake Peralta because she lost an stupid bet, and it was turning out to not be as bad as she imagined. 

"The car is a piece of crap, why do you love it so much?"

"I was 2 days out of the academy, super nervous. Saw this guy run out of a bodega clutching a bunch of cash, so i pursue him on foot, 11 blocks!. I finally catch him, cuff him and throw him up against that car. Turned out there was for sale sign in the window and it being the best day in my life I bought it." 

That night for the first time Amy saw her partner in a different way. Before she saw him as a goofy, child-like colleague. Now as he told that personal story she saw through him. Sure, he was goofy but he was so much more under that mask he built for himself. He was passionate about his job. He was passionate about his friends. He was passionate about this little stupid date that was supposed to be terrible.

"Thus began the debt"

"Crushing debt". She corrected. 

He looked at her and smiled.

"You do know me" 

That wasn't true anymore, so much had changed since that cold night. 

Amy needed to undertand how did everything changed. That was the important question. How did Jake Peralta got himself fired from the NYPD, how her goofy partner became a top member of one of the biggest crime families in the city. How did he stay hidden for 2 years. How could she get him to cooperate with the police so he wouldn’t go to prison.

How was she going to be able to treat one of her best friends as a criminal.

Chapter Text

2 years and 5 months earlier

The FBI wanted Jake Peralta to infiltrate the Ianucci crime family in an undercover operation. Being fired for chasing Lucas Wint presented a perfect cover.

“The Ianucci crime family is an old organization. It was created by Luis Ianucci. This mafia for most of its live has only participated on things like: illegal fights, gambling, robberies and blackmail.” said Special Agent Clarke.

“This is sooooo cool”. Jake interrupted. “Sorry”, he said after seeing the look Captain Holt was giving him

“Excuse me Special Agent Clarke, but I most inquire, if the Ianucci crime family was created over 60 years ago how it has evaded the NYPD for so long?” Holt asked

“While it managed to stay of the NYPD sights for years the NYPD tried to dismantle the mafia around the 80s. The operation consisted on 5 detectives that infiltrated the Ianucci crime family at the lower levels. But it didn’t succeed.”

“I’m quite shocked I haven’t heard anything about this operation before.” Said the captain.

“That is because in order to avoid backlash from the media and public the police commissioner at the time disposed of all evidence it ever happened.”

“Why didn’t it succeed?”. Jake asked

“Building a case against the Ianuccis is very hard, because snitches are extremely rare. The Ianuccis don’t let anyone who isn’t blood close. So, it was impossible for the detectives that went undercover to climb the ranks and gather valuable evidence on the heads of the family. Most of the detectives returned after a few months without progress, others weren’t so lucky.”

After a brief pause he continued.

“Last year the organization expanded in members, territory and power. The Ianuccis became major players in the heroin and weapons blackmarket. Then they started to buy police officers and politicians. When we found evidence that they had moles in the FBI a taskforce was formed to dismantle the mafia. We can only gather some evidence through cameras and satellite surveillance, that is why we need an inside man. But it is a very dangerous mission, we want you to think carefully before accepting taking part on it. You will go in alone with little to no contact with the FBI and practically no support”

That meant Jake could only count on his charm to get him out of any trouble. If he didn’t come back his mother would be devastated (his father may show up late for the funeral) and his friends would also be hurt. On the bright side, he wasn’t in any kind of romantic relationship, most of his friends were cops so they knew it was part of the job and his mother would understand.

Yet there was the wild card, his feelings for Amy Santiago. They were either the biggest opposition for accepting the mission or the biggest reason to do it.

As most men would feel in his situation, he could not handle seeing her everyday knowing he lost his chance to be with her. There were some moments between only the two of them where he felt that everything was right, as if they were meant to be together. But then he usually got a reminder that she wasn’t dating him, she was dating Teddy Wells.

Just a few hours ago, when they were gathering evidence on Wint, they were dancing. Even though she stepped on him many times and participating on a dance contest to get evidence on a criminal wasn’t technically romantic, Jake still enjoyed it till Amy mentioned her and Teddy should take a dancing class which felt as being hit on the stomach with a steel pipe.

He knew he should be happy for her, he wanted to be happy for her, he was trying to get over her, but he could not manage to do it.

So Jake faced a dilemma, if he accepted the assignment he would stop feeling hurt every time he heared the name Teddy, but he would also lose those moments with her where he felt truly happy. But, the operation wasn’t about him, it was about dismantling the mafia and helping make the city a better place.

“I’m in. as I said before, eyes closed, headfirst, can’t lose.” Holt glanced at him with a mix of pride and frustration.

“In the matter of size how would you describe this operation to your best capability agent?” Holt asked, concern showed in his face. “Can you give us an estimate on the number of agents infiltrating the mafia and working in the case against the Ianucci?.”

“All I can say Captain is that Detective Peralta is the only officer that’s going to infiltrate the mafia. The Ianuccis have ears everywhere that’s why we must keep the operation as small as possible. No one outside of this parking lot can now the real reason of Detective Peralta’s dismissal, that of course includes your fellow detectives in the 99^th precinct.”

“Do not worry about that aspect, only Detective Peralta and I are aware of this operation and it will be kept that way.” Holt said this as he gave Jake a look to confirm he wouldn’t talk to anyone about the operation, Jake nodded.

“Let’s see if we are on the same page, my play is to get inside the mafia at the lower levels and climb the ranks, because I was fired from the police its more probable that I can gain the trust from the higher ranks, and then I can get the evidence you need”.

“Exactly, you will make contact with Tony Ianucci, we have intel he visits a bar in Brooklyn regularly. There you will make contact, set up your cover and join him.”

“Piece of cake.” Jake said with a grin on his face.

Present.

“Hey!, focus.” Santiago’s words brought Jake back from his thoughts.

In the end It seemed that getting arrested was not so out of the picture as Jake expected when he accepted. Another thing that he thought would never happen he was being interrogated by Detective Amy Santiago. Detective Teddy Wells left some time ago when his patience finally run out and he could not handle Peralta anymore.

“…. ah…. what was the question again?.” He mumbled.

“I asked that If you don’t have anything to do with the mafia why were you in their warehouse at the time we stormed the building?”

Jake Peralta was lucky he was a master at creating detailed back stories in little to no time.

“Well, it’s a great story actually. You see this morning I was walking to the market to buy some fish for breakfast, because I saw a recipe for a fish omelet I wanted to try. So I pass this warehouse and two guys just come out and yell something to me that I didn’t really understand so I just keep walking and next thing I know they put a bag in my head and take me with them inside the building. Now, I’m inside the building and these guys just keep asking some questions about who I work for and when I say no one they hit me. As you can see” He pointed to his forehead and lip which showed bruises. “Anyhow, I finally convince them I’m not a cop with some jokes and they free me. The first guy was named Gustavo the other was Fausto. We joked about how bad the cops are for a while and I was about to head out but then you storm the building, and hell breaks loose. Between all the shots and explosions Fausto get nervous and tried to take me as a hostage to get away but I’m able to overpower him. Then I take his gun and point at him, he runs out of the room. But something happened to the gun during the fight and it started shooting itself while I was pointing at the door.” Seeing the look on her face he tried to make his story more believable. “You would be surprised with how common misfires are, I read somewhere that 2 out of 5 times it happens. Anyway, I tried to point it other way, but I could not handle the recoil. That’s why when your guys were about to come in the room I was in I yelled “Don’t come in, its firing itself”, It shot I believe 4 or 5 times and then your team came in told me drop the gun and get down on my knees, I did as they told me and then to my surprise they cuffed me. I mean, I’m the victim here.”

“Nice job Peralta, there’s no way she didn’t bought that” he said to himself.

Amy was shocked, not only for how stupid that story sounded but by how quickly was Jake able to create it. If she wasn’t so mad, she would probably laugh a little. Still she had the right to being mad. There were so many reasons for her to be mad right now.

2 years and 5 months before

Jake Peralta was her partner. But they also were very good friends. Okay at first she couldn’t stand him, he was so irresponsible, immature, messy and always teasing her in one way or another, but he still managed to be a good detective, okay a great detective, he had a way to see things in a crime scene that no one else could..

Slowly (very slowly) they became good friends, they talked a lot and joked around each other consistently. If she had to be stuck with someone in a stakeout or chasing a suspect, she would always choose Jake, because she enjoyed being with him.

But in the last months something changed between them. They were talking less than usual, he would avoid her at work, he stopped teasing her and he wouldn’t look as happy and smiley as usual.

As Jake Peralta does best, he got in trouble for chasing a case even though he was told to let it go. He believed that Lucas Wint, a politician was laundering money of drug dealers, but he didn’t have enough evidence. He was facing a 6-month suspension.

Even though Holt didn’t believe him she did, so she worked hard to find any kind of evidence that would prove he was right, all she could get were the words of a drug dealer, but that was enough. With help from Holt and her Jake got evidence that would not only save his ass from that suspension but also put Wint and his accomplices behind bars. Next thing she knows, Peralta was still suspended even though he had the evidence. At least thing could not get worse. Right?

She decided to text him.

Amy: Jake! What happened? Where are you?

Jake: parking lot

When Amy arrived she saw Jake pacing from one place to another and doing various things with his hands. In other words, he was freaking out.

“Jake. What happened? Did Holt ask you to get suspended?”

“No, he…..” he seemed conflicted.

“No what?”

“No, I wasn’t suspended, they fired me.” He said in indignation.

“What? Why?” Things could indeed get worse. She wasn’t losing her partner for 6 months, she was just losing him.

“I’ll explain everything, but know I feel like being alone.”

“Of course……..I’ll be at the precinct.” She softly touched his shoulder in support and kept walking to her car.

In the drive back to the precinct Amy started to freak out too, she started to imagine the very near future, also known as life without Jake Peralta in the 99. And it was bad. Why was she feeling like this?

She had been in her desk thinking about what happened for the last two hours, when Jake entered the precinct with Captain Holt. Both walked directly into his office.

The stress was consuming her, so she decided to go out to the balcony to smoke. 20 minutes later she heard some yelling and Jake got out of Holt’s office yelling all kinds of insults. He gathered most of the stuff in his desk in a box and left, of course he forgot the most important thing, his car keys.

Amy was very confused, like really confused, but the anger she was feeling now was stronger than the confusion. For the last 2 hours she was feeling bad for him and now there he was acting like a jerk, just because he got himself fired.

This day was very long and hard. She was too distracted with the Jake related problems to do any work. So, she decided to just go home.

By the time she was going to get in her car he heard Jake’s voice. He wanted to drop the bomb that was telling her he liked her, romantic stylez. The surprise kept the words trapped in her mouth. He continued talking about how he respected she was with Teddy and that they shouldn’t talk for a while and then he left.

The entire day felt extremely surreal. The next day, she accepted it wasn’t a dream. Jake Peralta was really gone and the precinct wasn’t the same without him, her days weren’t the say without him.

After a couple of weeks, she really felt the need to talk to him, maybe she missed him, after all they were good friends and she wanted to fix things as most as possible. Would it be awkard? Extremely. But she needed answers nobody besides him and Captain Holt could give her, the latter already refused to give them. So she texted Jake.

Amy: Hey, how are you doing?.

The text felt too formal while she wanted to be casual and lighthearted, but Amy Santiago was not going to start using incorrect grammar.

5 minutes, no response. 15 minutes, no response. 1 hour, nothing. Then she decided to call him. Her call went straight to voicemail.

Amy thought he was ghosting her so she decided to go to his apartment to finally know what happened. About 45 minutes later she was looking at the door of his apartment. She knocked, at first no response. Then she heard a woman’s voice responding.

“Coming”

Amy heard the steps coming. Was she Peralta’s girlfriend?, what about what he told her that night?. Amy evaluated leaving, the extremely awkward conversation they were going to have would now include another girl she didn’t know, but it was too late, the stranger opened the door. She was very surprised to see Gina Linetti of all the women in New York open the door.

“Gina?, What are you doing here?.” Santiago asked with genuine curiosity and relieve. It was Gina not Jake’s girlfriend. So the situation went back to extremely awkward, she told herself that was the only reason she was relieved.

“I could ask you the same thing Santiago, I don’t remember giving you my address”

“What?, this is Jake’s apartment” she said in confusion.

She suddenly remembered the problems Jake had with money and how Gina offered buying his place so he could keep living there paying the same rent to Gina.

“Not anymore boo, he couldn’t buy the place, but I could so I did, and he moved to my old apartment.” Gina quickly connected the dots on Amy coming to Jakes apartment at night. “Oh so you came here looking for Jake huh? Don’t you have a boyfriend?” Gina gave her a suggestive look.

Amy rolled her eyes.

“It’s not like that, I came here to get some answers about why he got fired and other stuff and he wasn’t answering my calls.” She could see in Gina’s face she didn’t believe her even though Amy was telling the truth. “Do you know where he is?.”

“No idea I haven’t seen him in a while. He moved out my place a few days after he was fired. I don’t have his new address. But don’t worry I’m sure he will eventually call you.”

“Thanks, see you tomorrow at the precinct. Good night” She started to go.

“Night, Amy.” Gina closed the door.

Well, it seemed she would have to wait.

Present

Fast forward 2 years and there he was. Basically, looking the same, besides the different haircut and style of clothes. She could notice some small scars in his face and his hands. Besides that, the only tiny difference was that instead of being her partner backing her up during an interrogation he was the criminal she had to interrogate. And the task was proving to be very difficult.

“You seriously think I am going to buy that story?” She asked with disbelief. She withstood Jake’s dumb undercover stories and made up characters for many years. And this one was the worst.

“I’M SPEAKING THE TRUTH, ONLY THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.” He made a dramatic pause, when he saw it didn’t work, he continued. “At least you should check it. That’s my alibi, you can ask Fausto or Gustavo and they will tell you the same I just told you.”

“There is no need. It is a lie.” She kept a very serious tone.

“What? That’s bullshit. You are not a polygraph.”

“If you were connected to a polygraph right now it would say I’m right, because your whole story is made up.”

“But I am not connected to a polygraph, you need better evidence than your gut to not check my alibi.”

Jake was just trying to buy himself a little time to think clearly on how to get out of all this trouble. Something he could not do with Amy Santiago asking questions he needed to invent an answer for.

“In any other case I would agree but you are different. Before you ended up in this interrogation room. I had the “pleasure” to be your friend and partner for years, so I know when you are lying.”

“You don’t know me that well Santiago. We weren't that close.”

The way he said it made it sound like he meant it. They were friends, right? She wanted to think that even if they haven’t spoken in years and consequently, she didn’t know him anymore all the memories they shared together would mean something. But when you saw the facts what he was saying was truth, if they were as close as she thought they were things between them wouldn’t be like this at all. What friend would disappear for two years and ghost all his friends, the only reason they didn’t think something bad happened to him was that Gina told them that she has spoken with Jake and everything was okay.

The whole squad reached the conclusion that Jake was too mad for what happened, they all knew this was his dream job. Who would want to hang out with his cop friends after he was fired from the force. That was what they thought for two years.

“Okay I am going to go check on that alibi of yours. If it doesn’t check out you will be on thin ice.” She stepped away from the table. “Giving a fake alibi isn’t exactly cooperation, your only way out of this is with a deal with us, if you don’t cooperate, I cannot offer you one.”

“I’m innocent” he murmured.

She chuckled ironically.

“The worst thing is that you know that everyone at that side of the table says that.”

Amy left and entered the adjacent room. Terry and Rosa were waiting for her.

“You checked it?”

“Yes, he wasn’t lying about the two guys. Both were wounded when we stormed the building, so they were taken to a hospital.” Reported Terry.

Maybe it wasn’t a lie after all, maybe Jake Peralta was indeed an innocent guy that was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

“The thing is they are both dead, their hearts stopped all of a sudden, the autopsy reports are not finished yet but if you ask me the Ianuccis are cleaning up their tracks”. Said Rosa. “If they find out we have Peralta and he is as important as we think he won’t survive long enough to testify”.

With the new information Amy continued to evaluate the whole thing. She looked at Jake through the fake mirror. If he was an innocent man, he wasn’t acting like one, she could see he was thinking about something, maybe he was trying to figure out his next move. Jake was a smart person, he probably figured out that his bosses would send someone to silence him even if he didn't tell anything to the police. His best and only play was cutting a deal for some kind of witness protection, it was a long shot he would survive prison and even a longer shot he could get out free. But he wasn't negotiating, not even trying. So what was his play here?, What was he waiting for?

What was more important than his life?.

Chapter Text

1 year and 10 months earlier. (7 months into the undercover operation)

It was a cloudy morning on New York City. Jake Peralta was driving to a luxurious apartment building in Brooklyn. An older man with blonde hair waited for him on the sidewalk.

“Morning Mr. Adelardi, where to?.” Jake said as he got out of the car to open the door for his boss.

“Good morning Jake, what do you say we get some coffee before we get down to business.”

“Yes sir, I know just the place.”. Jake set the route to a nearby coffee shop in Brooklyn.

Joseph Adelardi would be described as a nice guy by most, until he meant to do business. He worked on the blackmailing part of the mafia, let’s say someone on the Iannucci’s pay roll got caught selling some illegal product, maybe some of the members of the jury could get “persuaded” to say the defendant was innocent, or the judge might need some extra money. Wherever there was a weakness he could exploit, Adelardi found it

 A few months ago, Ex-Detective Peralta made contact with the mafia in a bar the FBI had intel some members frequented. After bonding over some drinks, telling a few jokes and maybe proving his worth for the criminal organization through playing darts, Jake got himself a job in the mafia as a driver.

Jake managed to gather some evidence in the form of voice recordings and pictures for the blackmailing part of the business on a hard drive. Enough to take down Adelardi and most of his men. But it would barely hurt the rest of the organization.

The idea was to eventually get enough evidence to sink the entire thing, but Jake wasn’t progressing fast enough, if he wanted to get more evidence, he would have to get more trust from his current boss. Or get the trust form someone with more power.

The drive was faster than usual and there were hardly any other customers on the coffee shop, Jake was walking back to the car with two coffees when he saw it. One of the vans he and the rest of the detectives in the 99^th precinct used on stake outs or when surveilling a suspect, parked only 4 cars behind him. He was 100% certain it was that van, one of the rearview mirrors was different than the other, because during a pursuit Jake took a “shortcut” which worked but the left rearview mirror fell when it stroke a dumpster. If Diaz, Boyle, or Santiago saw him working for Adelardi his cover could be blown.

Jake quickly put on the hood of his jacket and tried to cover his face with the coffees on his way back to the car.

“Mr. Adelardi you know how I used to work for the police?, well I just recognized one of the cars we used to follow suspects, and I think they are after us”

Adelardi’s usually inexpressive face showed concern. “What does that mean Jake? are they going to arrest me?”

“If they wanted to arrest you, they would have done it already so they must want something else.”

Jake imagined himself in that van, if he was still a detective what would his play be. If you have the evidence, you can arrest him and get information on bigger fishes. But if you arrest him you are letting those bigger fishes know that the police are on their tails, they would get away. It seems like the best play is to follow him to figure who does Adelardi meet and where does he usually go.

“They are probably following you in order to get someone bigger.”

“They cannot stop us Jake, if they get their hands on this car we are screwed.” Jake figured Adelardi was referring to the fingerprints of the people that worked for him or the ones he “negotiated” with. Almost all of the deals happened inside the car.

“Shit, let me think.” Adelardi put his palm in his face. Jake saw the van through one of the rear view mirrors of the car, he started to panic with the thought that maybe one of the detectives inside recognized him, if they did these 7 months were good for nothing.

 “I think I can lose them.” said Jake showing some confidence, he really had no other choice.

Adelardi gave him a nod.

Seconds later he was driving. He knew these streets like the palm in his hand, but whoever was driving that van kept finding them. Jake made a sharp turn to the right, the van followed. He gained some distance and made another sharp turn to the right in the next intersection, the van kept following him. Then, Jake started driving through a series of alleys he used as a shortcut when he was running late to work, the same shortcut he drove the van through years ago. If you didn’t with these you know the path you could easily get lost, at first the van was still behind them but after some turns, they lost it. 

“I think we are clear.” Jake said grinning

They were back on the main streets when Jake saw the van again, his grin disappeared. The shortcut only half worked, the van found them again, but they were far behind them.

Then Peralta got even more lucky when he saw a parking lot. With so many cars around them it would be easy to confuse the van. Jake entered and parked in the darkest spot he could find.

“What are you doing? Why do you stop?” yelled Adelardi.

“Shhhhh and get down, or they are going to see us when they pass.” Jake responded. His plan was simple. Lose the car in the parking garage and go back the way they came. Only a few minutes later the van passed very slowly. Jake, laying down between the two front seats started to panic again, what if it was all over? What if he failed?

Some minutes passed.

“They must have left by now.” Adelardi said as he returned to his spot on the back seat. “I think we are clear.”

Jake confirmed this to his relief.

Running from the police wasn’t on his personal list of dangers he would face as an undercover cop on the mafia. He thought he could get murdered if he messed up, not arrested by the police he was technically working for. It would be pretty ironic if he was arrested.

Jake drived the car back to the main road. After the incident Adelardi asked Jake to drive him to one of the warehouses he frequented

“You really saved the day kid, good job. Now come.”Adelardi said as he exit the car.

Jake was never allowed into the warehouses; he was finally doing more progress. He entered the warehouse with the older man, two big henchmen were waiting inside.

“Mister Adelardi we were starting to worry.” One of the men said

“Good morning boys. We had a little problem with the police. I’ll tell you later”

“How was dinner last night? Mister Adelardi” asked the other muscle suddenly.

“Well, I made a reservation for two, the meal was so exquisite that at the end I had to thank the chef.”

Jake was confused, but almost instantly the confusion was replaced by adrenaline when the two men pushed him to a wall and stab him with a needle in his left arm. Them everything turned black. 

In the second before he lost consciousness, he figured being stuck as a driver was not that bad.

Present:

The last 2 hours where a complete loss of time, Amy didn’t get any information out of Jake, he just kept repeating the same story over and over. For every time he repeated the gun firing itself story, she repeated all the things that were going to happen to him if he didn’t cooperate. She even offered witness protection wrongly believing he was not snitching because he was afraid, at least the Jake Peralta she knew would be.

Even though her job was to get him to cooperate with the police, what she wanted was to ask what  the hell happened to him?, how did Jake Peralta one of the best detectives the NYPD ever had ended up working for the mafia? and why was he protecting criminals?. Criminals he swore to put in jail back when he became a policeman.

Another hour passed and she could not handle it anymore. Maybe the way to battle his stories was with the hard truth.

“Jake come on, we have been here for almost 3 hours. I know you must be tired of repeating yourself again and again because I am.”

She put both of her hands on her forehead, trying to ease the headache.

“You know that if you don’t cooperate you will spend the next 20 years on a cell, probably with a lot of other guys you put there throughout the years. I know you don’t want that, because I know that if that would happen to me, I would be terrified.” Amy looked directly into his eyes, trying to convince him.

“I am not going to jail Santiago, I am as innocent as you are.” Jake stated confidently.

“Well you are right, you might not be going to jail. But not because you are innocent. You do know what a mafia do with people that are caught by the police? Remember the two guys you said that forced you into the warehouse? Well they are dead now, both of their hearts just stopped. It would suck to be one of them”

It was very subtle and quick, but she could notice he reacted to those news.

“Yes Amy, it would suck to be one of them but as I told you I am innocent.” he repeated

Amy decided to try a new strategy.

“Okay then just for fun, let’s say that you are innocent.” She opened one of the binders that laid on the table, of course Amy Santiago would prepare several binders for a case as big as this.

“This is a collection of all the crimes we believe are tied to the Ianucci crime family.” she said as she pushed the binder forward to Jeff.

Jeff just glanced as Amy passes from one page to the other. Dozens of crime reports, pictures of crime scenes and witness testimonies. Jake knew that many of the members of the mafia were terrible people, but he knew more than the police did about the organization.

“Do you believe an innocent person would defend people that are capable of doing this?”

Maybe she was right, what if he was risking everything right now by not asking for help. He needed just a little more evidence to get everyone, but what he already had would probably stop the Ianucci family for good. It would be so easy on paper to just come clean and get a police escort to his hard drive. But it was too risky, as soon as he told someone on the police about his operation one of the moles that worked for the mafia would inform the higher ups of the organization and one of them could get away. It was just too risky.

And he made a promise.

“So why? Why don’t you accept you committed many crimes and try make up for it by giving us the information we need to stop this mafia”. The tone of her voice showed less anger and more concern,

 “Even though you are being a dick right now I know you don’t want those men to stay in the streets where they can keep hurting people.” She looked at him directly in the eyes. Jake couldn’t maintain the eye contact for long.

“You don’t know what you are talking about Amy.”

“We were partners for god knows how many years. I know you.” She touched one of his hands. “I know by experience that you hate when criminals walk free. I know you are a good person. I know you want to help me get them, so please tell me why you are not helping us?”

“Amy…..”. He wanted to tell her everything, the operation, the last 2 years, his feelings. But he was too close to risk it. “I know nothing about the men you are talking about…….you  got the wrong guy.” He pulled away his hand.

Being honest did not achieve anything, opening to him didn’t help at all, it just hurt her more. Yes Jake Peralta was childish and goofy but he was passionate about what he believed in, he was a great detective because of this, he always thought about helping people before anything else. Now he was protecting those that believed on the entire opposite.

“You were my partner, I always trusted you. Every time we were on a stakeout, or in a chase and even on a gunfight I knew that you had my back. Please Jake, I need you to trust me on this, we can protect you.”

Peralta met her eyes again.

“I don’t care.” Pronounced Jake with the most serious tone Amy had ever heard from him. “I am innocent.”

The problem was that Amy could not ignore the fact that she did still care about him. She cared about what happened to the old Jake Peralta and if he was still in there.

2 years and 1 month earlier:

“None of us have heard anything from him for months. At first I thought he was just embarrassed and angry for getting fired but now I have no idea what happened with him. So I ask Gina as a favor to go ask his mother about him, she told her something about Jake leaving town to visit his father. But that makes no sense, Jake doesn’t like his dad.” Amy explained

“Mmm” said Kylie, clearly thinking about something else.

The two friends where having one of their twice a month lunch dates to catch up.

“Kylie are you event listening what I am saying? ” asked Santiago being a little annoyed with her best friend’s attitude.

“I was until you said Jake for the millionth time.” Said Kylie

“What? Why?” asked Amy chuckling.

“Because you always talk about him, is getting boring.”

“That is not true.”

“Ames, we have been seated her for half an hour and you have literally only talked about Peralta. You do this every time”

“I do not!” she exclaimed

“How is Teddy by the way? Are you still dating him? I ask because you haven’t told me anything about you boyfriend for weeks.” Kylie said knowing that she had won.

Amy was out of words, Kylie was right.

“If you ask me it is because you cannot get over what he told you the last time you saw him” theorized Kylie before taking a sip of water.

Sure, Amy was confused about the whole confession and that had affected her relationship with Teddy, but now they were back on track. The fact that Jake was nowhere to be seen probably helped Teddy to not thing about it.

“No, you are wrong there. I am just worried about him as a friend and intrigued about what happened, you know I am curious.”

Kylie rolled her eyes.

“So, you don’t miss him” tricked Kylie

“Of course I miss him”

“Got you!”

“Not like that. I miss him because I was used to working with him, is hard to adapt to a new partner.” Amy tried to explain herself.

“Sure, you keep telling yourself whatever you want Amy.” Said Kylie.

Present:

Amy Santiago was beaten. She couldn’t get Jake to cooperate, their friendship wasn’t enough for him to trust her. It was getting harder to see the old Jake Peralta in the total stranger seating on the other side of the table.

“I was your last chance Jake.” Amy said with a low voice.

Santiago left the room smashing the door on her way out. She was angrier than before and needed a place to get herself together. She walked to the evidence room.

Nothing made sense. Amy Santiago was a logic and reason person, she would get the facts and then reach a logical conclusion. From the information she gathered about Jake Peralta for years the situation she was currently facing seemed impossible, she needed to understand how It happened.  She heard the door of the evidence room opening again. She turned around to see who entered.

“Detective Santiago”

Well, being arrested by the police you are technically still working for was bad and knowing that maybe the last 2 years were for nothing sucked a lot. But the hardest blow this day gave Jake Peralta was losing one of the things he had valued the most, Amy Santiago’s trust. He had worked to win that and now it was gone. She would understand when all of this was over, at least that was what Jake told himself.

“Why don’t you accept you committed many crimes and try to make up for it.”

The way she said it stayed with him. She had no idea how true those words were. The things he had done in the last 2 years were crimes, even if they were committed in the name of justice. It still weighted in his conscience and would probably stay with him for many years to come. He wasn’t a criminal, but he wasn’t a hero either.

The dust would clear and who knew if the people he cared about would be able to see him in the same way after they learned what he had done to bring the Ianuccis down.

“No point thinking about that right now” Jake told himself.

Another hour passed, he believed he still had time to get out. Santiago did not come back to the interrogation room. He guessed either Teddy, Rosa or maybe Terry would enter the room next, to continue trying to get him to cooperate. He could keep stalling sure, but it was for nothing if he didn’t find a way to get out.

The first step to escape would be to break free from his handcuffs, there is no way he can break them and he can’t open them without some kind of tool. The door of the interrogation room is locked, so he would need to pick that lock (he should have asked Rosa to teach him how back on the academy). He could run for it when he is being transferred from the interrogation room, of course he would have to outrun an entire precinct of police officers, including Terry. After thinking for a while Jake to go with the heart attack and hope for the best escape.

To his surprise the next person to enter the interrogation room was his childhood friend Gina Linetti, she was holding a dish with a sandwich and a glass of water.

“Don’t even look at me Jacob, I’m like super mad with you. What do you think Nana would say if she saw you right now?.”

“Nana would have understood I was undercover trying to take down the fricking mafia”

“I’m just doing this because nobody else wanted to”. She both items over the table. “Just so you know, if I was in your situation, I would have snitched like 3 hours ago.”

As quickly as she entered Gina left. At least she brought him some food, he is starving. But not starving enough to eat vegetables, he opens the sandwich expecting to see lettuce, a slice of tomato or pickles but instead there is a small cardboard with a message written on it.

“You have 5 minutes, meet at parking lot”

He flipped the card, there was a little key stuck to it, the key was for the handcuffs. The gears in his brain were moving trying to figure out what this meant.

Seconds later the lights in the entire precinct died. Was Gina Linetti breaking him out of a police precinct?. Or was she just part of the plan?. He would found out soon enough, he just needed to get to the parking lot in front of the precinct as the note said.

“Just like sneaking out of your house when you were 16 Peralta, just sneaking in the darkness out of a precinct with dozens of armed policemen that will shoot you if they see you.” He thought as he unlocked his handcuffs with the key.

He took the message and ran to the door that was left barely open by Gina on her way out. And he made his way into the darkness.

Chapter Text

Present

The power was out, the hallways of the 99^th precinct were covered in darkness and the flashing of red emergency lights. As soon as he left his holding cell Jake Peralta started running. He had worked in this precinct for years, he knew the path to the closest exit.

But before he got too far he heard footsteps coming in his direction, by how loud they sounded he figured It was Terry coming to check on him. He looked around him for a place to hide, as fast as he could he entered the room to his left, slamming the door shut.

Jake waited until he heard the steps go past the room and towards the direction of the holding cell.

“Oh!” exclaimed a surprised Scully who was sitting down at a table inside that same room. He seemed to be eating something.

“I guess 3 years do not change everything” thought Jake

He ran through the different things he could do before Scully called for backup.

 Luckily, he remembered Scully was not allowed to carry his gun inside the precinct after dropping it inside the holding cell. So he did not have to worry about getting shot by him at the very least.

“That would really hurt my rep” said Peralta for himself.

He liked Scully so hitting him with something in the head would not be nice but it was the only way out of this. Jake would apologize later with some food after everything was cleared.

 “Hey Jake! I haven’t seen you in a while. How are you?” said Scully with a big smile.

Jake did not know and could not respond to that with something other than a confused smile. He moved towards the window in the room and looked at the bullpen. The precinct was in chaos. Somebody had opened the holding cell, so the officers had their hands full trying to regain control.

Was Gina really doing all of this by herself?

He figured he was missing a big piece of the puzzle.

Without saying anything, Jake nodded to Scully and left. He kept running to the emergency exit that would take him to the parking lot where he would meet Gina and whoever was helping her.

He figured that the mob would not worry about breaking him out, if they thought he was a threat he would already be dead. Therefore, they did not hear about him getting detained yet.

He still had time to end this.

Jake made it to the exit without running into any other police officer, he was running down flights of stairs as fast as he could until he got to the parking lot.

He paced a little further and looked around, but there was nobody there. It was pitch black. No Gina picking him up.

Maybe something with Gina’s plan had gone wrong. He would have to get out of there on his on.

“Time to hotwire a car” he thought.

He was about to run to the nearest car when he felt the baton on his right knee, followed by the cold asphalt on his face and something hit his temple.

The last thought that came to his mind before he lost consciousness was how much he hated being knocked out.

1 year 7 months earlier

Peralta woke up. His head was killing him. He was in a room that looked like an office. His hands were cuffed behind him. He was sitting on an old chair by a wooden table that had a few folders on top.

“You are awake now.” A figure behind him said.

Jake groaned and blinked repeatedly to adjust to the light.

“This is not a good way to treat your employees, you know?”

The man laughed. And walked to the front so Jake could see him.

“So, you are not only funny when you are drunk.” The unknown man responded.

“Huh?” asked Jake confused.

“You don’t remember me?” asked the man as he sat in the chair in front of Jake.

Jake looked at him, it took him a minute because his eyes were still blurry. But he recognized him, it was one of the Iannucci family men he met at the bar the first night of the operation. A man he figured was a big fish but had no way of getting close to.

“Wait, I think I remember you and a lot of Vodka. You hired me right?”

“I would not use the word hired, but yes. It’s not every day than a NYPD detective come into my bar looking for a job. My name is Michael Iannucci.”

Jake made sure to not react to the name, he was one of the main Iannucci family members.

“Jake Peralta, I would give you a handshake but well.” He looked down at his bonded hands.

Jake smiled, trying to stay in character.

“You know, that time I was just asking for a drink, not a job. But I am not complaining. It’s much better than what I did before.”

Michael chuckled.

“Yes, lets discuss what you did before.” Said Michael as he opened the folder that was in the table.

“Some friends in the NYPD were able to get me this file on you. It has some interesting stuff. Entered the academy young and hungry. You were one of the best shots of your class. Made detective pretty quickly in the 99th precinct. Difficult to work with but your skills make up for it.

“Did they actually write that down there?” asked Jake.

“Yes, that was a comment made by your last Captain, one Raymond Holt.”

“I knew he liked me.” said Jake with a big smile.

“Mr. Peralta, I am sure you can figure out why I ‘hired’ you to do some work for our operation.”

“Because my incredible charm?” continued Jake. 

Michael released a slight chuckle.

“No, because of your background. I know you can think logically under pressure and have the skills required in case something goes wrong. That is more than what I can usually ask of any of the people I work with. Pair that with your insider knowledge about the NYPD and overall, you are a great asset, that is the reason you were hired as a driver to begin with. But you are missing something I value greatly, loyalty.”

Jake grinned. So that was what all of this was about. Michael wanted to make sure that he could trust him. He did go a little overboard by kidnapping him, but Jake was not complaining. This was the only progress he had made for months.

“I think is pretty obvious where my loyalties lie.” Said Jake.

Michael kept looking at him, trying to read him.

“Why did you leave the police Mr. Peralta?”

“I had a professional disagreement.”

Michael chuckled again.

“And that’s it? One disagreement made the great Detective Peralta quit.”

“Let’s just say that it was a pretty bad disagreement, one of those moments where you take a minute and think about all your life choices.”

Michael stopped to think for a minute.

“One doesn’t go through years of police academy and cop duty to make detective and then just decides to leave everything he worked for. Even worse, you didn’t just leave the police, but you left and then flipped”

That was fair, thought Jake. It did look like that on the outside, why the hell would he not only quit but join the dark side as they say. However, it was not all lies. He would have never joined the operation if his work at the police didn’t him questioned. Hell he would have never even heard about the operation to begin with. He had jumped into this almost a year ago with the promise that it will bring actual change. To the city and to himself.

“Look, I found out some people inside the force were dirty and when I tried to do something about it I almost got fired. That was when I realized that I spent too many years working for the “greater good” and it did not take me anywhere. I have no friends, no love life, and massive credit card debt. So, I figured I had to leave and only care about me. But there is not a lot of “good” jobs out there asking for my skills. I have bills to pay, so if you can offer me a good amount of money, and with that I mean a whole lot of money, then you have my loyalty. ” Answered Jake.

A good lie is made up of little truths, and Jake Peralta did have a lot of credit card debt.

Michael measured him one more time for a second. Then he got up from the table and walked behind Jake.

“We’ll see if you mean all that.” He uncuffed Jeff. “We have a meeting to attend, let’s get going.”

Michael knocked on the door, another man came into the room to meet them.   

“Let’s go”

Jake got in the back of a black SUV with Michael and three other of him men. The drive was less than 20 minutes. Jake noticed it was already night. He wondered how long he was out unconscious.

Their destination was an abandoned building by the dock, Jake saw the fence with the demolition announcement.

 “So, you took me here for what?” he asked.

“You’ll see” responded Michael. “But before then, you will need this.”

Michael signaled to one of his men. He put his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a silver revolver. Then he gave it to Jake.

“You shouldn’t have!” he responded faking a smile. A gun meant whatever was going to happen inside that building was serious. Still Jake grabbed the gun. He inspected the chamber; it had 6 bullets.

“Not your standard NYPD equipment. But I am sure you can use it.” Said Michael.

“Will I have to?” asked Jake as he felt the weapon on his hands.

“Only if things don’t go according to plan.”

Jake pointed the gun out the window to check the sights. It was very different to the police revolvers he had used before and those were never his choice of handgun.

He would make it work if he had to. He was really hoping he did not have to.

They made their way inside the building. It looked like an old storage building with multiple industrial shelves. It was completely dark except for some electronic lanterns somebody had put up inside.

Jake was able to see who soon, in the middle of the building there was a group of men that were waiting for them.

“Michael! We thought you were not going to show.” said one of the men. That was sitting at a small round table that was probably set there recently.

“We had some complications on the way here. But we would never miss this meeting” Michael responded as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down on the vacant chair by the table.

Jake started to count the other men around the room, at least 5 without counting Drew who he assumed was the leader. All of them were wearing leather jackets, so they were members of a biker gang. Jeff remembered they were investigating a number of gangs like this in the area, but he had too little information to figure out which one it was.

“Of course, how could I doubt of the Ianucci family’s word.” Said Drew.

Jake just met this guy and he could tell that while he was saying respectful things while his tone showed he really meant the complete opposite. Michael chuckled at the comment.

“Well sorry to keep you waiting, should we get this done with?” Michael called one of his men over to him, he was carrying a briefcase and handed it to Drew.

“Inside that briefcase you will find the half a million dollars we discussed, to pay for your lost shipment and for your inconvenience.”

Drew opened the briefcase and smiled like a kid on Christmas morning.

“You will also find another half a million dollars in there, which are a gift from me for you with the understanding that your family will stop distributing inside our territory”

His smile faded.

“That’s not the deal with had.” His voice raised. “The Ianucci family said we could sell whatever we wanted here.”

“Yes, that was the old deal. Hence the half a million dollars to cover the costs of you moving your operation and for any inconvenience.” Stated Michale again.

Silence followed. Jake didn’t like how things looked around him.

“So not only you cost us a full shipment, but now you want us to stop having any shipments move through here.”

“Exactly” Michael responded.

“Are you insane? Do you know how much money we get from here? Why the hell would we stop?”

“Because I am asking nicely. And you will not like it when I am not asking nicely.”

Drew laughed, it was one of those hysteric laughs Jeff would hear when he was interrogating some suspects, and they were close to cracking.

“Well, it seems we have an understanding. You have one week to leave.”

“Who do you think you are?”

There was no longer any kind of sarcasm in his voice anymore. It was a dry tone.

Jeff looked around, he saw the other members of the gang to start moving. They were preparing.

Michael continued getting up, he buttoned his suit jacket and started to leave.

“I am speaking to you!” exclaimed Drew.

After that Jeff  knew somebody was going to shoot sooner or later. He started to find where all of the bikers where located and to think about what he would have to do to survive this.

Jeff saw Drew reach behind him, Jeff got his hand inside his pocket, he felt the grip of the revolver and lowered the hammer.

Could he shoot first?

He was not a cop anymore, right now the ethics did not matter. All that mattered to him was to survive.

His mind flashed for a second to that day.

“Peralta!” said a voice in his memory.

BANG

Jake did not have to shoot first at the end, somebody beat him to it. The shot had come from behind of them and one of Michael’s men fell to the floor.

Jake dove for the floor and found cover by a column. He heard more shots behind him.  He remembered then all the times he found a crime scene after a gang fight, especially the ones where one side ambushed the other. They were always gruesome. He wondered if someone from the 99^th precinct would find this crime scene, the thought of his body being among others found there almost made him throw up at the spot.

He looked around him, Michael had dived for another column nearby. His other two men had also found cover among some of the shelves and were returning fire to the bikers to their front. Jake checked where Drew was before to only find his body in the ground. 

Jake readied the revolver. Whoever was behind them had stopped shooting, out of bullets. There were too many bikers, they had to run if they wanted to make it alive. In other words, the exit had to be cleared.

The same memory flashed in his mind again, Jake remembered the first time he had to shoot his gun while on duty. One morning, fresh out of the academy, him and Rosa were called in as a support for a bank robbery, they were just stationed in a possible exit. Lucky for them, that was the one the robbers used to scape. They had no time to react before they were being swarmed with bullets. While Rosa was ready, Jake had frozen.

“Peralta!”

“PERALTA!”

“JAKE!”

He looked at her.

“As soon as they are reloading, we will return fire. Got it?”

Jake nodded even though he did not feel like he could at the time. But as soon as they stopped shooting, him and Rosa started shooting back. He just stopped panicking and let his body take command. That had saved him multiple times. And it would do it again this time.

Jake took a deep breath and peeked from cover. He pointed his gun and saw the biker out in the open trying to switch clips. He did not have the luxury to shoot to injure, without having a second thought he shot once at his chest, the recoil from the revolver was more than he was expecting but he shot again. The biker fell and Jake went back to cover.

“We have to get out of here there is too many of them!” Yelled Jake as loud as possible so Michael would hear him.

“I will cover you go!” yelled Jake again.

Jake pointed to the opposite side of the building and shot until he was out of bullets.

Michael made his way back to the entrance shooting back at the bikers.

“Come on!” yelled Michael now providing cover fire from another column near the entrance.

Jake moved slowly, trying to use the shadows for cover. The bikers were moving, he heard steps coming his way, before he could react, he was tackled, the biked hit him twice in the face before Jake was able to reach for his revolver and hit him in the head until he was not moving.

He recovered and continued running towards the entrance and took cover in a column next to Michael.

“The rest of your men?” asked Jake

“They got them. Just you and me.” Responded Michael.

Jake saw him complaining, he was hit on the side. Jake could see more shadows coming their way. He analyzed the situation, should he try to run on his own? Was he willing to die for the mission? If Michael Ianucci was killed here he would be back to square one, what would everything had been for then?

He checked his pockets for the extra bullets Ianuccis’ men had given him in the car. Six more shots.

“It is too dark in here; they can’t see us that well. I have an idea. I will draw their fire; you go around and get them from behind.” Said Jake and then he ran to a corner of the building as fast as he could with more shots coming his way. He ran past shelves all the way to the opposite side of the building and took cover by a wall. They had definitely seen him since he heard at least two guns shooting at him.

“Guys can’t we talk about this!” screamed Peralta trying to gather their attention.

Jake looked around him seeing an old bottle of glass close enough to his reach. He grabbed it and broke it against the floor grabbing the biggest piece he could. He tried to use it as a mirror to see the behind him. He saw four remaining bikers out of cover in the open making his way to him

He shot twice without pointing, hoping he hit them by luck. Of course, he did not but they still shot back at him.

He heard the steps coming closer. He was completely pinned down. This was it, the opening Ianucci needed all of the bikers were in the open.

Had he used the opportunity to run and left Jake to die?

“Shit! Good job Peralta, you just trusted a criminal with your life.” Thought Jake

But then Jake heard shots again coming from behind the remaining bikers, it had to be Michael.

The steps stopped, he peeked and was able to take the last two remaining bikers down as they were turned around shooting at Michael.

Jake saw one moving on the ground; he kept his gun pointed.

“Freeze” he said, an old reflex kicking in.

The biker did not listen he was going for his gun in the floor. Jake could not get there before he reached the gum, so he had to shoot him again hitting the head.  

Finally silence.

He looked around, feeling his ears ring and smelling the gunpowder. His hands were shaking, his revolver was hot. He looked at his hand, it got cut from grabbing the piece of glass. He did not feel the pain until now. It was bleeding and some of it had gotten on his gun. Was it his blood only or did it have blood from someone else? From Ianucci’s man that got shot from behind or from the biker that Jake beat with it.

The silence was broken by sirens in the distance.

“Peralta! He have to go now.” Said Michael bringing him back. He had one hand with his gun pointing at the bikers in the floor in case they moved while the other put pressure in his injury.

The next few hours were a blur, they ran back to the car. And Jake started driving as fast as he could to one of Michaels safehouses.

“I don’t think I would be here if it wasn’t for you Peralta” Said Michael as Jake drove.

But he was not really listening. He just wanted to get away from that warehouse. He crossed a line he was hoping he would not have to during this operation. He tried to tell himself it was for the greater good, while that was true it did not make him feel any better.

Present

Jake slowly woke up, his neck was killing him, he was on a chair and as usual he was cuffed to it. He was not blindfolded though. His eyes slowly adapted to his surroundings, it was dark, it looked like an apartment. He could see some furniture piled up at the wall, it was not old furniture like he would expect to see on a Ianucci family safehouse, it was some nice coaches and tables but not the kind he would buy.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see some kind of wooden cabinet with many plates inside, the kind his grandma used to have. He felt the chair with the little hand movement he could. It felt like good quality wood and it had some kind of decorative pattern.

There was a spark of light coming from in front of him. His eyes quickly adjusted to recognize the flame and the ignited cigarette that followed.

He only knew one person that lived in a grandma’s apartment like this and that could have knocked him out and brought him here. But his brain told him it was not possible.

It all came flying back to him then one more time, the stakeouts, the investigations, the thanksgiving dinner he had in this apartment years back, that rooftop. She was in all of those memories.

And now she was there. Sitting in front of him. With a cigarette in her mouth.

Amy Santiago.

His partner.

Her.

Chapter Text

1 year and 7 months earlier

“I think we are good,” said Jake in the driving seat as he longer heard police sirens nearby.

It was the same car he Michael Ianucci and other men had used that night to go the meeting with the biker gang. Only the two of them had walked out.

Michael nodded, he was quiet as he wrapped clean bandages around his injury on the passenger seat to his right. They were lucky they had a med kit on the car or better said they were unlucky they had to use tonight.

“Peralta, how is your hand?” asked Michael.

Jake looked at it quickly while keeping an eye on road ahead.

“I still can’t feel how bad it actually hurts, so that is good right?” he asked trying to smile

He managed to slow the bleeding from the cut, but it was deep and probably needed stitches. Jake was not looking forward to explaining what happened to the doctors in the emergency room.

“We need to get you checked.” stated Michael, with as much worry as a boss would normally have about an injured employee.

“I suppose you don’t know any doctors around?” asked Jake.

Michael thought for a minute.

“I have something better,” he replied.

Jake followed Michael’s directions to outside the city, to what looked like a family neighborhood. It certainly did not look like the typical safe house location for a mobster.

“There, the house at the end of the street, park in the driveway.” Pointed Michael.

Jake parked and they both got out of the car, it was past midnight.

“Let’s enter through here” said Michael opening the garage door with a controller he kept in his keyholder.

Jake followed him in.

“Michael? Where the hell were you?” asked a voice from inside the house as soon as they entered.

It was a young woman with dark hair wearing scrubs, she looked she like had come back from work not long ago.

“What happened? “she asked worried walking towards Michael.

Before Michael got the chance to respond she continued.

“The deal was tonight? I told you it was a bad idea, now look at you!,” she said as she checked on him and quickly went to the kitchen.

“Elena, my love, we have company. This is Jake Peralta”

Jake waved with his good hand. Elena nodded back.

Michael and Jake followed her further into the house. Jake looked around; it really was not a traditional safe house from the boss of the mafia. This was a family home, not too far from the one he grew up in, there were pictures, ornaments and old furniture. Elena directed them to sit down at the dining hall table and came back wearing gloves and carrying medical supplies.

“Where are you hurt?” asked Elena.

“Left arm, pretty sure the bullet went in and out,” said Michael.

Elena sat down next to Michael, helping him to remove the jacket and the bandages that were tainted with blood.

The past detective continued looking around him, he noticed a small family portrait, Michael, Elena and a boy that looked around 10 years old.

“Mr. Peralta, there is a sink in the kitchen. You can clean your hand there; I will look at it in a moment.”

“Thanks” said Jake as he walked to the Kitchen. He started the sink water and unwrapped the bandage.

The cold water felt good against his inflamed skin. Once his hand was clean, he could clearly see the cut, it would definitely need stitches.

He dried around the cut while he heard some mumbling from the other room. He imagined Michael was catching Elena up with what happened that night.

“Almost done here,” said Elena/

She had sanitized the wound and was wrapping bandage around Michael’s shoulder.

Jake imagined she was a nurse, she was probably used to doing work like this every day

“You were very lucky tonight. Now, you keep pressure on it,” said Elena with as tone that reminded Jake on when his mom was mad about something.

She came over to him and looked at the wound.

“Not too bad, was it glass?” she asked and Jake nodded. “It did not hit bone, but you will need stitches.”

“I figured,” laughed Jake. This was a bad time for him to remember his fear of needles.

“Michael grab me the whisky,” she asked.

“To sanitize the needle?” asked Jake confused.

“No, it’s for you.” Responded Michael who had two glasses and a bottle of whisky in his hands

 “That makes more sense,” responded Jake who immediately downed the glass of whisky Michael poured for him, letting the warmth from the alcohol distract him from the pain.

The only time that Jake had gotten stitches was when he scratched his knee open after trying, and failing, to do a skateboard trick down a flight of stairs. He did not remember how it felt back then. He was sure he would not forget the feeling now.

At least the pain kept him from thinking back to what had happened tonight.

Once she was done stitching him up, Elena put a bandage over his hand,

“It will be a nasty scar, but you will live Mr. Peralta,” said Elena

“Call me Jake,” responded Jake. “Mr. Ianucci could I have another glass of that whisky?”

“We are way past that Jake. Call me Michael,” he responded as he poured the drink.

Jake smiled and downed the second drink.

The pain was going away, letting his mind go back to that warehouse. He started seeing the revolver covered in blood as clear as when it was in his hand.

“So, what went wrong tonight?” asked Jake trying to interrupt his thoughts.

Micheal sighted and started telling Jake about the current situation between the Ianucci family and the biker gang they had faced tonight.

The bikers had moved into Ianucci territory a few years ago and they were selling all kinds of drugs. Initially they gave a cut to the family, and everyone was happy, except Michael who saw the effect the drugs had in the neighborhood he grew up in.

When he came of age and became a part of the family business he started fighting back on it, limiting where the gang sold, making transport harder for them and eventually intercepting and dumping a shipment of product from the bikers which led to tension and the threat of war.

Tonight was the decisive deal in order to not only stop the tension between the two groups, but Michael wanted to kick the biker gang from their territory permanently.

“It failed as you can tell. I never thought they would do something so stupid as ambushing us in there.” Said Michael.

“They are mad men; you cannot predict what they will do. I told you so,” added Elena.

She glanced at Jake.

“Thanks for helping my stupid husband,” said Elena.

Jake nodded.

“My pleasure,” responded Jake. He turned to Michael. “What’s next boss?”

“I was in the phone with Adelardi while Elena patched you up. I got him up to speed, we will discuss our response in the morning.”

Jake nodded. “I should be leaving then. Thanks for having my back Michael.”

As he went in for a handshake he was interrupted.

“Its past midnight, please take the guest room tonight, Jake.” Said Elena

Jake was about to decline when he saw Michael’s face, she would not take a no for an answer.

“That sounds good. Thank you.”

They showed him the guest room on the second floor and left him to sleep.

Jake took a moment to look around, it was a pretty average-looking guest room, nothing that would tell you this was the house of a top member of the Ianucci family. He went into the bathroom, and it was a normal looking bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror, he was a mess. He tried to make sense of how he arrived at his current situation, but too much had happened too fast.

All he knew now was that he was close to Michael Ianucci, first name basis close. This was a man that had drugged him and abducted him before taking him in for an interview earlier that day and now he was sleeping under his room. They had formed a kind of trust tonight only formed after fighting side by side. That trust would allow him to gain the information he needed.

He was there for a mission, to take out the Ianucci family from within. How could he achieve that while participating in a gang war? Should he ask for directions to the FBI?  Did they know about the situation between the Ianuccis and the biker gang?

Jake sighed and decided to take a shower to help clear his mind.

It didn’t. Every time he closed his eyes; the revolver was there.

His head felt the softness of the bed, even though his body was tired he could not fall asleep. He kept going over the events at the abandoned building. Diving for cover, shooting the bikers, cutting his hand and the bloody revolver. It all kept hitting him again and again.

What if I got shot then? What if Michael had left me for dead? What if that biker had a family?

He felt nausea take him over. Jake was going to run for the bathroom and then something funny happened.

Out of nowhere a memory came into his mind.

He remembered a stake out he was in years ago. They were stationed there for two weeks without someone to relieve them. And his partner had bad luck and got sick from the takeout Chinese food. He remembered sitting outside the bathroom with binoculars looking out of the window at the scene while checking on her.

“Are you okay Santiago?” he asked with one hand raising his binoculars while the other grabbed a fistful of nuts from the bag in his lap.

No response.

“I told you, that is why I never eat vegetables,” he commented.

“Shut up Peral-,” she was suddenly cut off.

“Don’t worry Santiago, I will keep checking the scene and if our guy shows up I will take him down single handedly so you can keep barfing.” Joked Peralta

She kicked the door that time.

“I am going to-,” she stopped talking again.

Jake chuckled at the memory. He was a jerk to Santiago; no wonder she did not like him much back then. But to his credit, after that he got Charles to bring some Gatorade and chicken soup for her. So not a complete jerk.

He remembered how miserable she looked; she was tired and sick, but she did not ask to go home. They had a mission and no matter how hard it was, Amy Santiago would never quit a mission.

Jake would not quit either, no matter how hard it was now and how much harder it could get.

He had a mission to complete, no matter the complications.

Jake Peralta kept thinking about Amy Santiago and slowly the revolver faded, and sleep came to him.

Present

Amy Santiago had a lot of house rules. No shoes inside and to always use a coaster were some notable ones, but the biggest rule was no smoking inside. She was not really a smoker; she would sneak a cigarette or two outside the station or on the fire exit stairs of her apartment but only when she needed a way to blow off stress.

She could be flexible with her other rules, for example she remembered the multiple times that she had visitors that forgot to use coasters when having a drink. It annoyed her but she did not make a big deal about it, she understood sometimes bending the rules was necessary.

However, she never got close to lighting a cigarette inside her home, not even when dealing with the most stressful case.

It took a few years, but Santiago broke that rule tonight. She had a man tied up in her living room. Which on its own would probably been stressful enough to make her want to smoke a cigarette, but the cherry on top was that the man’s name was Jake Peralta. Her old partner and the man that one way or another had been in her mind the past few years.

Without debating too much about it, she allowed herself this one.

“You know smoking kills right?” asked the man tied to her dining room chair.

She rolled her eyes, he was finally awake. Amy considered hitting him in the head again.

The room was completely dark with only a small spark on the cigarette and a few lights coming from the night outside. They could see each other’s silhouette but not each other’s faces.

Jake Peralta had lived through a lot of things in the last few years that he never imagined ever happening. Even then, if he had to rank them, being held hostage by Amy Santiago in her apartment would be close to the top list. Why did she bring him here?

He figured it had something to do with Gina, since she was the one that told him to go to that parking lot in the note she snook in. But how much did Amy know about what was really going on.

Jake Peralta decided to play dumb and see what happens. He waited for a response for a bit. When he did not get one, he continued.

“I guess I will talk first. Let me begin by asking: What the actual fuck Santiago? You kidnapped me?” asked Peralta showing his surprise.

Amy took another puff and exhaled the smoke.

“You were a runaway suspect; I just took you back into custody.” She responded

Jake laughed.

“Then I guess you guys really redecorated the 99th. It looks a lot like your apartment.”

No response.

“I can have your badge for this you know?” he threatened.

No response.

“But I am feeling kind tonight. How about you just let me go and I forget this never happened?” proposed Jake.

He knew that she would never go along with that, but he still wanted to try.

Amy chuckled.

“It’s too late to cut a deal.” She responded.

“So, what is the plan then? Torture me to get me to talk?” asked Jake sarcastically.

Amy did not respond. She put off the remains of the cigarette on the ash tray and got up.

Jake felt her walk past him, that was the closest he had been to her since that night. He heard noise behind him as she looked for something in a drawer.

“Santiago?” he asked to no response.

If he remembered correctly, behind him was the kitchen. What could she be grabbing there? Other than kitchen knives to torture him of course.

He swallowed hard and wished he hadn’t been that much of an asshole to her earlier that day on the interrogation room.

“Santiago?” he asked again with a little more worry on his voice.

He could not see her face before so he could not read her at all.

“Well, this is Amy Santiago, no way she does anything extreme to get a confession” he told himself. But then again that was the Amy Santiago he knew, what about the present Amy Santiago.

“Peralta,” she was closer to him than he expected. Jake tried to move to face her, but his feet were locked in place too. Santiago was surprisingly good at tying someone to a chair.

“Tell me the truth about the warehouse,” she asked.

“I already told you what happened. I wanted to buy fish-,” tried Jake.

“Stop with the bullshit!” she interrupted raising her voice.

Before Jake got a chance to respond to that she continued.

“I know there is something else going on. Something that explains where you have been the last 3 years,” she said with what sounded like hope.

He did not respond. Worried that she could tell that whatever he said was a lie,

“Please be honest with me.” She pleaded. Not with the cold tone she had used while in the interrogation room, instead it showed that she cared about him and needed to know what happened the past few years.

Jake did not respond again.

He was on an undercover operation, a top-secret undercover operation. So secret that not even his team on the 99th precinct knew of its existence. The secrecy was done to protect the operation and protect his life.

But at this point, when he was so close to finishing things. What could be the worst thing to happen if he told Amy now?

“Please Jake,” she pleaded again. “Trust me.”

Jake could think about the ifs all he wanted but the truth was that one way or another he had to get back to the docks tonight. To finish everything. Jake knew that if Amy heard the truth she would do anything to help him. She would not understand that he had to finish this alone.  

“Please.” She said one final time.

But his was Amy Santiago, his partner. If he could have told any other person in the world about the past 3 years it would have been her. He wanted it to be her.

“Amy, I-,” Started Jake but he was interrupted from a phone ringing behind him.

He heard Amy mutter something and grabbed the phone from her pocket.

“This is Santiago,” she answered. “Understood, coming.”

Jake felt Amy walk past him again, without saying anything else. She walked towards the door and opened it.

He could still not see anything other than figures in the darkness. One left the room as another walked in. Jake could see the door closing again.

“Ah Amy? Care to introduce your friend?” asked Jake feeling a bit worried about who this person was.

The figure walked further into the room until he was right in front of him.

“Em I’m Jake, and you are?” asked Jake failing to hide his nervousness.

He had been put into situations like this with strangers more than a couple of times in the past few years. Repetition did not make it easier.

Jake saw the figure put something into the table and light a match. The object he put onto the table was a candle.

As soon as his eyes adjusted to the faint candlelight Jake was able to recognize the person in front of him and he could not hide the smile that formed in his face at the relief and joy of seeing Captain Raymond Holt as soon as he walked into the apartment.

“Peralta. It has been too long,” stated the Captain with the same monotone he always had but Jake wanted to think he could sense some happiness in his tone.

“Oh Captain my Captain.” Responded Jake as he continued smiling.