Work Text:
“Is Y/N out sick again?” Amy asks Captain Holt after everyone has dispersed from the briefing room.
“Yes Santiago, she is… “ The captain pauses to procure a piece of neatly folded paper from his pocket and places his glasses to rest on his face. “’out sick with an unidentifiable illness’,” Holt says simply.
Amy looks at him blankly, he sounds like he’s reading off a script, which he probably is considering the paper. It’s in her best interest not to question it she decides.
“She’s been sick for a while, I know she has one of the worst immune systems I’ve ever seen, but this is a lot, even for her,” Amy sighs slightly, furrowing her brows in concern. You got sick, everyone did. Yes, you had a very weak immune system, to Amy it seemed like you always had one ailment or another.
~
“Hey Y/N, just dropping off the paperwork for the case about that missing bike,” Jake says happily as he walks past your desk, dropping a file on it.
“Tha’ggs Jake,” You smile weakly, quickly whipping your head away as you try and stifle a sneeze. Your voice congested and gross.
“You sick again?” He asks in slight concern.
“Eh, I’m always sick,” You say casually, shrugging it off as you sneeze again.
~
“Ugh, Sarge, do we need to get the vents checked again? It sounds like the rats are having sex,” Gina complains from her desk.
“Aw man! Terry just had the vents checked, that exterminator wasn’t cheap!” Terry exclaims.
“That’s not the rats. That’s just Y/N,” Rosa says casually as she walks past Terry’s desk “She’s got a cold.”
“Again?!” Gina and Terry say in unison.
“Sorry,” You call from your desk, covering your mouth as you start coughing again.
~
“How long d’you think she’s gonna be asleep for? I wanna sit on that couch,” Scully whispers to Hitchcock as the two stand in the door frame of the break room.
“Maybe she’s dead. We could have her lunch!” Hitchcock replies happily.
“Y/N’s not dead!” Terry huffs in annoyance as he overhears them “She came down with a fever and passed out at her desk. We moved to the couch so people wouldn’t think we have a corpse in the bullpen,” He says as he crosses his arms.
~
“Well, Detective L/N will come back to work at sometime in the foreseeable future,” Holt says awkwardly, pursing his lips and placing his hands behind his back.
Amy makes a face, deciding that she’ll check on you after work.
______________________________________
Rosa speeds out of the bullpen, taking long purposeful strides as she walks to her bike.
“Rosa! Hey,” Amy calls out, quickly scurrying over to Rosa. Awkwardly placing her hands on her hips and smiling. Rosa narrows her eyes and takes a step back from Amy.
“You know, out of all the people at the precinct, you’re like my favourite coworker. So I feel like I can talk to you about anything. Ergo you can talk to me about anything, like the reason why Y/N has been out sick for four weeks straight. That no one seems to worry about, but maybe you know about, that maybe I should know about,” Amy finishes her long-winded mini-speech by trailing off into a conspiratorial whisper.
“You’re not getting me to talk to you about anything Amy,” Rosa says dryly as she strikes her bike, placing her helmet on her head and looking back over at Amy.
Normally Amy would give up, leave Rosa alone and move on. But she’s worried about you.
______________________________________
You’re awakened from your hazy sleep by three sharp knocks on your door. Rosa’s knocks.
You force yourself to stand up so you can open the door, it’s beyond you why Rosa didn’t just use her key and let her let herself into your apartment like she does when…this happens.
“Why’d you knock?” You mumble sleepily as you open the door, your eyes widening as you see Amy. Why is she here? She’s not supposed to know about this.
“I have company,” Rosa says simply as she forces her way into your apartment, you step back and close the door after Amy comes in.
“Why?” You ask tiredly.
“She followed me here,” Rosa sighs, placing her helmet on your kitchen counter and grabbing a glass from the cabinet.
“How do you know where everything is Rosa? You and Y/N don’t hang out…or do you?” Amy asks, following Rosa around your kitchen.
You roll your eyes, you walk into your living room and slump down on to your couch, sighing deeply as Amy keeps asking Rosa rapid-fire questions about you and her.
“Up and at ‘em N/N, you’re still in your pyjamas. It’s 5:30,” Rosa says as she walks over to you, her voice firm but softer than normal.
“Do I have to? Amy’s here,” You whisper quietly, looking up at Rosa with pleading eyes.
“She’s your friend. She’ll understand,” Rosa murmurs softly.
You nod mutely in return, forcing yourself to stand up and shuffle down the hallway with Rosa at your side. “Step one?”
“Take a shower,” You mumble flatly, eliciting a small smile from Rosa as she leaves to get clean clothes for you.
______________________________________
“Y/N has…we’re not sure if it’s depression,” Rosa sighs softly, watching as Amy fills her glass with water “That was the official diagnosis, but the two of us have agreed it doesn’t have all the hallmarks.”
“She-she does? Why didn’t she tell anyone at the precinct?” Amy asks in disbelief.
“Captain Holt knows, it’s in her file, I found out on accident,” Rosa explains, crossing her arms and staring off into the distance “It’s not easy for her to talk about. These things never are.”
______________________________________
“Step four, drink water,” You mumble to yourself as you fill your glass with water, Rosa and Amy continuing their conversation on the couch in your living room.
Vocalizing the steps helps for whatever reason, you and Rosa came up with them when she first found out.
~
You force yourself to stand up, weakly opening the door and looking at…Rosa.
“You’ve been sick for a while, Charles made you soup. I don’t know if I’d eat it though,” Rosa says as she pulls out a Tupperware container from her bag.
“I’ll tell him thanks,” You sigh softly as you take the container.
“Are you okay? You don’t seem sick, just…sad,” Rosa asks bluntly, giving you a once-over.
“I-I’m alright,” You say quietly, rubbing the back of your neck and inadvertently showing Rosa your bandaged forearms.
“What happened?” She asks immediately, grabbing your wrist and pulling your arm towards her. Her voice is her usual gruff and firm tone, but there’s a deeper undercut of concern.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie Y/N.”
“…Fine,” You sigh reluctantly, stepping back to let Rosa into your apartment “You have to promise not to tell anyone.”
Rosa crosses her arms, making a face before nodding “I promise.”
“I-I have depression Rosa, I haven’t been to work because I’ve been in a slump,” That’s what my therapist said anyway,” You mumble quietly.
~
“Steps? Rosa I’m not a child,” You scoff, crossing your arms and frowning at her.
“All I’m saying is that it could help N/N.”
“If it gets that bad again I’ll consider it,” You sigh softly, smiling reluctantly at Rosa’s concern. It made your heart flutter.
Rosa sighs softly, nodding gently.
~
“Amy, can you take Arlo for a walk this evening?” Rosa asks as she hands Amy the keys to her apartment, rather reluctantly considering she rarely has people over, and when she does she moves out right after.
“O-of course, why-”
“I’m staying here tonight…I think you know why.”
Amy smiles softly, Rosa definitely has a soft spot for you. “I’ll head out right now,” She says, standing up with a sly wink.
______________________________________
“So, Amy knows.” You exhale deeply from your spot on top of Rosa, your head tucked beneath her chin comfortably.
“Yeah, but she was super understanding, she’s Amy,” Rosa smiles softly, a rare moment where she’s not cold or rude.
“Still…I didn’t want her to find out,” You say quietly.
“I know babe, but this way you’ll have someone else who can help. Maybe one day you’ll be able to tell everyone else. If you want,” Rosa murmurs, gently brushing her fingers through your hair.
“Yeah…I don’t want to talk about this right now,” You sigh quietly, earning a nod from Rosa.
She’d rather you talk about it, but she also doesn’t want to make you feel worse. Deep emotional talks will have to wait for tomorrow then.
She turns on the TV, some kids show you’re obsessed with, about Australian dogs. Blue-ish or something.
Rosa sighs slightly as the two of you watch the show, it’s a bit…happy for Rosa’s tastes, but she can sort of see why you like it.
“I said sorry, and I tried 100 times to cheer you up,” Bluey says sadly. “But you're still trying to make me feel sad.”
“I can't help it,” Her sister Bingo mumbles sadly.
“She's not trying to make you feel sad, Bluey,” Their mother sighs.
“I'm just sad,” Bingo says quietly. Looking down before pushing her chair away from the table and running to hide behind the kitchen peninsula.
“But, Bingo!” Bluey calls out for her sister.
“Just let her go,” Her mother says softly.
“But why is she still sad?” Bluey asks. “I thought I fixed her.”
“You can't always fix people, sweetheart.”
Rosa looks back down at you, your eyes misted over with unshed tears. She furrows her eyebrows and sighs slightly, turning back to the TV.
She wants you to feel better, to never be sad again. To go back to being the happy, somewhat annoying, goofball everyone at the precinct knows you as.
But she can’t fix this.