hi! i recently discovered the joy that is b99 and wrote a quick one-shot about america's dream couple, jake and amy. i hope you enjoy!

The moment Amy Santiago became the assistant manager at the Brooklyn Café, she knew she would get the words on her wrist. The day had been going way too perfectly for someone with terrible luck like her, and she felt like her luck would never end, which led her to believe that she would get the words soon enough.

Every so often, she'd glance down at her wrist, hoping to see the phrase or sentence that would lead to her soulmate. She was grateful that her work uniform was short-sleeved, so she'd be able to keep an eye out for the moment the words appeared.

Amy was thirty-two years old, and she still had no indication of having a soulmate. She would often get sympathetic stares from strangers and her friends, occasionally. Most of the time, her co-worker, Rosa, would try to make her see the bright side to not having her soulmate yet ("Cheer up, Santiago. With your luck, the guy—or girl—was probably a creep, and they died."), but Amy couldn't help but envy Rosa; she already met her soulmate, and they were the complete opposites, but they balanced each other out. Amy could see how much Rosa cared about Gina and vice versa. They were meant for each other.

Today was the day, however. Amy was sure of it—she wasn't going to let the anticipation from getting the words distract her from her job. She just got promoted, and there was no way she was going to disappoint her mentor and boss, Raymond Holt.

As she dashed around the busy café, taking and making orders, and ensuring people were doing their jobs, she forgot about the soulmate ordeal. She was the kind of woman who loved to be engrossed in her work as a way to distract herself or even for fun.

"Santiago! Can you take this to table three?"

Amy glanced up from the table she was cleaning to see Rosa placing a coffee on the counter. "On it!"

She quickly picked up the cloth and the spray bottle she was using and began making her way to the counter. She was no more than five feet from the counter when she saw a man grab the coffee.

"Oh, I got this. It's mine anyway. Thanks!"

And just like that, the man was gone along with the coffee.

As soon as the man stepped out of the building, it happened. Amy felt the skin on her left wrist begin to burn, and suddenly, she didn't want a soulmate anymore, not if meant having her flesh burn like the pits of hell.

Amy could feel the words searing into her skin. She tried to push out the pain she felt with excitement—she would finally get her soulmate's words! She thought of the endless, romantic possibilities, and it made her feel warm inside. Eventually, the burning stopped, and she was almost too scared to check. But she couldn't wait any longer.

Title of your sex tape.

Amy could already hear Kylie and Rosa laughing at her.

"Kylie!"

"What? I just said your soulmate is probably going to want to do you the moment they see you," Kylie said with a shrug.

"I—I just wanted something cute and simple though."

"Like what, Amy?"

Amy fiddle with her grandmother's ring on her finger. "I don't know. Maybe something like, 'Hey,' or, 'Woah'."

Kylie gave her a blank stare. "Amy, stop being so bland, and be grateful your soulmate has personality. Do you know how many people wish they had your words?"

"None, Kylie! None," Amy emphasized.

The more she looked at the words on her wrist, the more she thought about what she would say to her friends and family. How was she supposed to explain this to her parents? Hi, mami. Guess what? I got my soulmate's words today! What does it say? Well, it says, 'Title of your sex tape'. It's so cute, right?

And once the word got out to her brothers about the words, she'd never hear the end of it. Nothing but teasing at every family gathering. Amy considered just dropping off the face of the earth for a brief moment, but she ultimately realized she couldn't live without her mother's cooking.

"—the man is?"

Amy glanced at Kylie. "What?"

Kylie gave her an exasperated sigh. "Do you know who the man is?"

"What man?"

"The man who walked out with his coffee."

"No. Why?"

Kylie raised an eyebrow. "You know, for someone who graduated from Columbia, you sure are clueless about these types of things, Amy Santiago."

"I don't understand."

"You plus the man with the coffee equals soulmates."

Amy processed what Kylie was saying and she realized—

"Holy shit, you're right. Kylie, you're right!"

Kylie gave her a grin. "Of course, I am. Did you expect any less of me?"

Amy was running late. Technically, she wasn't late; she would be at work twenty minutes before her scheduled work time, but she was late, nonetheless. She was supposed to wake up two hours earlier than her normal wake up time to "glam up" as Kylie would say, but her three alarms didn't go off. She didn't know how that was even possible, but she had a feeling today was one of her many unlucky days.

She felt and, more than likely, looked like a mess, but she was already behind schedule, and there was no way she was going to mess up her second day as assistant manager just so she could look nice.

"Fuck," Amy muttered as she locked her apartment and began racing down the steps to get to the café on time.

As fate would have it, she had only managed to run for a few minutes before it started drizzling.

Why does this always happen to me? She thought.

By the time she arrived at Brooklyn Café, she was drenched from the rain and had only managed to arrive four minutes before her scheduled work time. She hoped Holt wouldn't demote her for showing up late even though she wasn't technically late; Hitchcock and Scully would no longer be the laughing stock of the café—she would: for being demoted one day after she got promoted.

"Santiago, what happened to you?"

Amy could feel all her co-workers staring at her, and she quickly muttered something about her alarms not going off before stepping into the restroom to freshen up as best as she could. Fortunately for her, she was only working till noon today, and soon enough, she'd be back in the comforts of her apartment, eating some Chinese takeout while watching the Harry Potter films.

Amy quickly braided her hair and dried herself as best as could before stepping out of the restroom. She was about to clock in when she got stopped by Holt.

"Good morning, Santiago."

"Good morning, sir. How are you?" She asked with a smile.

Holt seemed to ponder about the question for a few seconds before giving her an answer. "Splendid, I suppose. Kevin took me out for breakfast; it was a quite the surprise. Anyway, I'm here to ask you something, Santiago."

"Hit me with it, sir."

Holt scrunched his eyebrows at her choice of words. "Yes, well, would you be able to close tonight? You're the only person I trust enough to run the place till it closes especially since I'll be leaving at noon."

Amy felt her smile waiver. She was having a terrible morning and just wanted to go home, but Holt was asking her to close?

"O—of course! I'd love to!"

Sometimes, Amy wished the earth would swallow her up.

"Have a good night!" Amy called out as the last customer left.

There was twenty minutes left till closing time, and Rosa had left forty minutes ago, which meant Amy was officially alone.

She thought about locking the doors early, but she felt like she'd be cheating Holt by doing that, and she couldn't cheat her mentor. She still had so much to learn from him, so she kept the café open.

There was an Ed Sheeran song softly playing throughout the café, and Amy wondered whose playlist this was because as far as she knew, no one listened to Ed. Or so she thought. She didn't mind the song; in fact, she found herself humming along to it.

She glanced at the clock.

Fifteen minutes till closing time.

She so desperately wanted to go home already and fall into an endless sleep. She was grateful she didn't work tomorrow; this meant more time for her to sleep and watch movies.

As crazy and terrible as the day was, Amy couldn't help but hope something good would happen to her before the night ended. She turned her back to the door, leaned against the counter, closed her eyes, and listened to the music playing. It was the nice, quiet moment she'd been needing all day.

Then she heard the door to the café open.

Amy wanted to cry at this point. She quickly glanced at the clock one more time.

Six minutes till closing time.

"Please let this be quick," she muttered.

"Title of your sex tape."

Amy's eyes widened at the words and looked down at her wrist only to see the exact same words staring up at her. She turned around to find an attractive man with dark brown hair and brown eyes staring at her. Even though she didn't get a good look at the man with the coffee yesterday, she knew this was him.

Amy gaped at him for a few seconds, taking this entire moment in. This attractive man wearing a button down plaid shirt, hoodie, jeans, and a leather jacket is her soulmate.

"Why doesn't your mouth work?" She heard him ask.

"Title of your sex tape," she retorted.

The man froze and looked at his wrist, and this made it all worthwhile because his joke was on both of their wrists, and it made Amy want to laugh.

It was quiet for a few seconds before she found herself asking him what he wanted to order.

"Well, I wanted a caramel macchiato, but I guess I'll have your name."

Amy blushed. She felt like she was back in middle school, blushing at the words of the most attractive guy in her grade. "I'm Amy Santiago."

"Jake Peralta."

Amy looked at the clock and saw the café was opem three minutes after closing time. "Hey, let me close up really quick, and I promise I'll treat you to something."

"I don't think any place has what I want at the moment."

She was confused. "Well, what do you want?"

"Your phone number and a date with you. Preferably tomorrow."

If Amy's face wasn't on fire before, then it certainly was now. "Are you always this smooth?"

"Nah," he said with a grin, "just with my soulmate."

"Oh, really?"

"Oh, yeah. I have lots of lines to use on you. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you."

"Yeah," she said with a smile, "me, too."

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