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The whole squad had officially retired about an hour earlier. It was a relief to be able to let loose after a hard day of many failures from a case. The mugginess of the bar, under the dim lights, the shouts from the tables behind them, felt like the perfect way to unwind. Leaving Amy with Jake to clink together one more glass of whiskey before turning in for the night. At this point, the alcohol and infectious energy of the place have relaxed their tense shoulders and they can now just enjoy each other’s company. Even if it’s only just the two of them.
Amy clutches her stomach as the last remnants of her laughing fit fade away. Releasing her unconscious hold of Jake’s wrist so he can wipe the tear leaking from his eye, and he comes back to earth with a few chuckles.
“Okay, no, but really, some people can just be the dumbest people in the entire world,” Amy says through catching her breath. She pulls the rest of her hair down as it’s already coming undone, but doesn’t bother fixing her skewed blazer.
“Hey, let’s be honest, maybe they’re not as dumb as their moments. Like I’m pretty damn sure you and I have had many a moments dumb in past,” Jake stumbles to say and Amy has to resist patting down the curls that have stood to one side.
“God, don’t remind me, and it’s always you ,” Amy points accusingly. Jake gasps and slaps her hand away.
“Noooo,” Jake petulantly says before chugging the last of his drink. She can barely remember what number drink that is, since she’s had the same amount he has. She quickly places her finger back in his face.
“It’s always you who makes me do the dumbest crap in the whole world!”
“Don’t even lie,” he bangs his fist on the table and doesn’t resist the giddy, drunken laugh that comes out of him. And it’s so infectious, his energy and the way his smile makes his eyes all squinty.
“I am not lying! You always make me look like an idiot!”
“You do that yourself,” he playfully scoffs.
“Right, do you remember the date,” Amy says, punching him on the shoulder. Jake pauses, mouth agape and eyes squinted. The cogs are definitely turning in there, like it does about once a day before it shuts down and let’s his body take over.
“To be fair, that technically was your fault, if you had just tried being actually a good detective-
“Ohhh, don’t-,” Amy throws her head back.
“Then maybe you would actually have won,” he teases.
“Don’t even start, we were at the same place you got lucky,” her volume rising to overshadow his.
“I did get lucky, I got a date with Lamey Santiagoooo.” He tries to take another sip from his glass and frowns when it turns up empty.
“And it was the fucking best day of your life.” Jake gasps and looks around, lips pursed in suppressed laughter.
“Oh my god, Amy Santiago is cursing. She’s cursing!” He yells out to the rest of the bar. Amy notices the bartender throwing them a warning glance. She places her hands on his arm and shakes him a little.
“Shut up,” she grits through her teeth, but she really can’t even pretend to be serious right now, with the alcohol still coursing, and even feels like it might be a tad worse. “You’re an actual child.”
“Childsayswhat?” She rolls her eyes. That wasn’t even funny back when she was twelve years old.
“I’m not falling for that.”
“Ha, that’s because you’re a nerd.”
“Well, you’re a loser.”
“Actually, you’re the loser, I won the bet,” he grins and Amy groans up at the ceiling. She tips into her mouth the last of her drink and lets it puff out her cheeks. Behind her, a group yells among themselves and she realizes just how alone her and Jake are. It’s not the first time they’ve gotten drinks together, or have been left alone after the squad leaves them for the night.
But ever since everything that’s happened. Teddy. Sofia. Dumb feelings and stupid declarations. Things feel different, something feels inevitable. Like at any moment, something unknown and unsaid can ruin the set rhythm between them.
But no, she shouldn’t let that ruin things right now. Things are good, they’re great, they’re-
“Do you want to know that this means Amy?” Jake asks, catching himself from swaying just a little.
“Hm,” she asks.
“This means,” he stops to let the pause linger. “that you and I are at the start of an awful relationship.”
“Oh really,” she says. He’s joking, and they’re drunk. She certainly feels drunk, which is probably why she’s letting herself remember the unspoken issues between them. It’s definitely why she’s letting herself remember the unspoken issues between them. It’s just a joke. And it’s not an uncommon occurrence to have people in your life you wouldn’t mind kissing. Or touching. Or other things.
“Yup, we’re at the start of a lifelong terrible relationship that of loservilleness.”
“Ha! So you admit you’re a loser.”
“Amy Santiago, when you take a step back to rediscover the world, you will realize that we all, as one people, are losers.”
“You’re lucky that mostly made sense.”
“Heck yeah it did. Anyway, back to what I was saying, you and I are about to live a terrible life together. We’re going to framed for a heinous crime we did not commit-”
“Why.”
“Because.”
“Alright,” she says with a shake of her head at his antics.
It’s a joke, it’s just a joke.
“We’re going to marry at the Chapel near the rat infested Walmart.”
“Okay,” she nods with mock seriousness.
“After we wed, we run away as outlaws to Montana, change our names to Bucky and Birdie-”
“I call Birdie!”
“And we have a son named McClane.” Amy looks at him with an exasperated look, and he can barely contain the mischievous look spreading on his face.
“Jake, that's a terrible name.”
“You’re a terrible name!” She wouldn’t be surprised if he actually did try to name their child McClane, he… really loves that movie. But, it’s endearing really, that there’s something he connects to and loves. She likes the way he unapologetically loves.
She taps her chin since he’s staring at her intently for a response.
“McClane…,” she mumbles to herself. “ooh, you know what? McClane might not be an awful name. If you really think about it, it can also sound like a name for a librarian.” She knows she’s hit a button. He cackles and drops his head into his hands. He turns and glances at her with annoyance, he almost looks impressed.
“Why do you always ruin things that are fun,” he says, tapping her shin lightly with his foot. She’s definitely drunk, because even that felt charged. Felt intentional. But she’s just drunk.
“Do you want our son to be named McClane or not?” She says, tapping his shin back. It’s fine if she does, they’re friends.
“Fine, but I’ll find something to ruin for you.”
“I’m solid as a rock honey, you can’t move me.” Jake raises an eyebrow and smirks. He doesn’t break eye contact when he holds out two fingers and gives her shoulder a firm shove. A stupid squeal escapes her throat as she stumbles off the stool she’s sitting on and lands on her ass.
“Ok, I think that means it's time to go.”
“Yeah,” she agrees. She holds out her hand for him to help her up. “Walk me?”
Amy’s relieved that she can still mostly walk in a straight line. It isn’t until Jake bumps into her that they start to stumble a little.
New York is not as busy tonight as it usually is, and she likes the clear path they get to walk in without many obstacles. They gag and skitter around the giant dead rat on the ground, and they have to cover their nose when the worst smell NY has ever produced punches them in the face. Other than that, they’re not bothered and she’s grateful for the cold night air after hours in the hot bar.
And they haven’t stopped talking since leaving the bar. About the episode of West Wing last night, the bruise Jake got from tripping over Charles’ box of jars of something , Amy’s annoying brother David and the picture of his new car he’d sent to the sibling group chat.
She thinks Jake is the only person she gets like this with; loud, talkative, and rowdy. It’s the best, and she loves these moments with her best friend.
“You’re not even ready, Bucky would romance the hell out of you,” he says, poking her lightly in the side.
“Really? Coming from the world’s cheapest date?”
“I’ve gotten no complaints.”
“You’ve gotten many complaints!”
“Not from Birdie.”
“Fair,” she says.
“I would drive you absolutely insane with my respect for your boundaries. Make you miserable by unconditionally supporting your ambitions,” he says and Amy wrinkles her nose.
“Sounds horrendous.”
“Yup. You’d make me sleep on the couch with how much I get along with your family.”
“Disgusting,” she says. To be fair, she probably would send him to the couch if she caught him having a nice conversation with David. No way will she let David make her husband think he was better than her. In high school, one of her boyfriends left her to pursue her amazing brother. She’s never letting that happen again.
“David?” he asks.
“David,” she assents. But she’s already ranted about him once today and she doesn’t want to break the Only One Rant About David a Day rule she’s set for herself. “I would pay attention to your interests and actively listen when you speak.”
“That’s just low,” his voice is guttural when he says that and she curses her attraction to deep voices. She clears her throat.
“Buy you intimate gifts from the heart and remind you of my appreciation of your existence every single day,” she says. His hand swaying beside hers lightly brushes against hers, and he continues the conversation like it didn’t happen. He probably didn’t care, maybe he really doesn’t care anymore.
“Did Teddy do that?” he asks.
“Never missed a day,” she says.
“Gross, how did you manage,” he barely gets the word out before his foot catches on the edge of a fire hydrant. He releases an ‘oof’ and grabs onto her hand to catch his balance. She’s way too inebriated to catch him, she goes tumbling along with him. She just barely manages to settle herself whereas he goes flat on the floor.
“Woah, are you okay,” she says, the laugh she makes is almost a cackle. When he looks up at her, his face is red and he can barely breathe with the force of the laughter that shakes his shoulders. She tries to pull him up, grabbing him by the arm and making a feeble attempt to carry him back up. It just barely works, with more fumbling and swaying involved.
“Just like this, I’d support you in all aspects of life,” she teases, helping to steady him on his feet.
“Even if, in our hanky town in Montana-
“Hanky?”
“I get arrested for assault when someone tries to take the last jar of mayo?”
“Especially then,” she says. It suddenly hits her that her hands are still on his arms, she still has him less than a foot away. He’s so close, way closer than she expected him to be. Despite many years of them working together, on all those stakeouts and nights slaving over case files and evidence, she’s never had him this close. His crooked smile is still there, still goofy and sweet, but it’s changed from what it was a second ago. It’s shy, almost hesitant, surveying something on her face and she wants so badly to know what it means.
“This doesn’t sound like the worst relationship ever you know,” Jake says and she almost startles when she feels more than sees a hand reaching up to her face, lightly brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. So slight and imperceptible that he might have just been taking something out of her hair. But that’s not the thing that strikes her the most. It’s the look on his face. She’s seen it before, from Teddy, her college boyfriend, the hotdog vendor at the stand near Shake Shack. But never Jake.
This look seeps low into her stomach and expands into her chest. There’s an overwhelming pang that she wants to chase for miles, just to see where it takes her. She says, “Maybe not.”
It comes out softer than she means it to. It makes what should have been a joke… something else. That inevitable thing.
Even this stupid life together that they just made up right now, she’s never been able to joke like that with anyone else, never been able to imagine that with them. But with him, maybe it’s just the alcohol she’s probably had too much of, it’s not so ridiculous.
“Is it weird I kind of want to kiss you right now?” he says softly. She’s officially lost. Lost on him and in this moment. It’s so inevitable, it’s so close.
“Is it weird I kind of want you to?”
Her hands tighten on him, and there’s a moment of bated breath. She almost hates the giddiness she feels bubbling up within. It’s like gravity to just lean forward… and embrace their inevitable.
They’re shaken when a loud horn of a truck breaks the silence as it drives past them. It’s like they’re yanked apart by their surprise and Amy puts a hand on her chest to settle her beating heart. She looks over at Jake. His eyes are wide and no longer glittering the way they were a second ago. The moment is gone.
“Dammit New York,” Jake says, avoiding her eyes by looking in the direction the truck had left. When he looks back, his eyes are still kind of glazed over from their drinks. She’s sure hers are the same. Their drinks have led to silly jokes and wild fantasies. To whatever the hell that was.
To Jake’s next brilliant observation.
“Holy shit, is that a Baskin Robbins?”
“Oooooh,” she says with a gasp. He grabs her arm and they run in the direction of the shop.