Work Text:
There was a mystery to be solved. More specifically, who exactly was Grace Hollis, and why did Rosa like her so much?
From what Amy could see, they were polar opposites. Grace was a literal Disney princess, with flawless black skin and beautiful, long hair, and the most cheerful and sweet disposition a human could possibly have. Rosa was… Rosa.
So, whenever she had spare time, she looked into Grace. She avoided early-life things out of respect and basic decency, and quickly discovered thanks to a Facebook page that she worked as a vet and rescued tons of animals. There were also tons of pictures of Grace with puppies and kittens and Amy spent about twenty minutes going through them all and wondering how Rosa could possibly be dating someone that gentle.
(Jake caught her looking at those pictures and asked, loudly, if Amy had a crush on Rosa’s girlfriend. Thankfully, Rosa was not present.)
Grace rarely came to visit Rosa at work. When she did, she brought homemade cookies that she forced Rosa to share, and sometimes brought in cats and asked people if they wanted to adopt them. She sat at Rosa’s desk with her legs crossed at the ankles, sometimes talking, sometimes simply humming to herself and holding Rosa’s hand. (It also amazed Amy that Rosa would sit and hold someone’s hand like that.)
One day, Amy looked up to find Grace waiting at her desk. “Hey, Grace,” she said, unable to stop the smile. Smiling just happened around Grace. Even Holt tended to smile the tiniest amount when she was around. Literal ray of sunshine and Disney princess. “Rosa’s not here,” she added, unnecessarily, since Rosa was not at her desk, where she spent ninety percent of her time.
“I know,” Grace said. “I was hoping I could wait here for her to come back. It was a slow day and my phone’s fully charged, so if I need to go back they can get in touch with me.”
Amy nodded. “You can wait here, as long as you don’t mind me working. I’ve got a few reports I’ve still got to complete.”
Grace sat quietly as Amy worked, and eventually said, “It’s silly, but I always worry when she’s not at her desk. It doesn’t matter if it’s just, like, going out to arrest a jaywalker or something. I worry. But it’s silly because she’s so tough, she can handle anything, y’know?”
Amy didn’t really know, because she wasn’t dating Rosa and was more scared of her than for her, but she nodded anyway and asked, “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but… what is it, exactly, that you like about her? I mean, she’s not exactly the cuddliest person in existence, and you’re, like, so kind and sweet and you feed stray cats and rescue animals.”
Grace smiled. “I get it. We are an odd couple, I guess. I mean, it was basically love at first sight when she beat up a bunch of cis women that were trying to keep me from using the bathroom and then stood guard outside. We went out to dinner the night after and she was just so respectful. She told me she looked up a bunch of stuff on how to be good to trans women, and she was just so matter-of-fact about it, she didn’t expect a reward for being a decent person, and it was all just so… different and charming.” Grace let out a sigh, the sigh of a woman in love. “It helps that I have a type and she hits all the points. Badass, willing to cuddle, likes cats.”
Amy thought that being attracted to basic respect was odd, until she remembered that there were a lot of men who didn’t even reach that low bar for her, so she couldn’t imagine what it was like for a transgender woman. Grace added, “I usually don’t date cis women, just because of all the shitty stuff that goes along with it. But Rosa’s so good about educating herself. I don’t know, it’s…” Grace suddenly stood up and Amy followed her gaze to Rosa, a bruise blossoming on her face. “Rosa!”
That shout drew a lot of attention, but Amy couldn’t hear what was said as Grace ran to her girlfriend and hugged her. Whatever Rosa said, it seemed to comfort Grace, whose arms slipped down to squeeze Rosa’s. “I’m gonna walk Grace home and be back in a few minutes,” Rosa called to Holt. Then she glanced at Amy. “Thanks for keeping her company, Santiago.” Grace gave her a wave as they left, chatting. Amy tried not to grin like an idiot at getting Rosa to thank her.
(She failed.)