AN: particularly course language located in the final paragraph.
Theme song for this fic is Over & Over by Smallpools. Not a song fic or anything, just a little anthem I had on repeat as I was writing this that fit the overall mood.

Jake had no idea how on earth he managed to be the first one at the party. That was not something that was usually in the realm of possibilities considering his usual grasp on time management. So walking into Terry's backyard and finding it empty was not what he was expecting. There was a note on the front door directing all visitors to enter through the back gate so he knew he was at the right place, but there was still something off about how deserted it was.

It was a nice backyard by all means. One that you would expect from the typical suburban neighborhood it was located in. Green grass, some bushes and trees lining two sides of the fence, a wooden deck leading to the backdoor- but the pool was killer. No doubt about it.

Terry said it was salt water but that didn't even matter. It looked awesome. It was one of those in ground ones that had rocks piled on one end with a waterfall cascading down it beside a hot tub. There wasn't a diving board, but it wasn't at all surprising that the sarge didn't want his kids to be messing around on one. Still, it looked like one of those pools that were on those really shady commercials that played at 3 AM that always looked super cool- just as this one did.

Jake walked over to the deck to see a note weighted to the table by a water bottle that was covered in condensation from the hot weather.

Forgot some snacks and drinks. Went to the store to pick more up. Don't wait for me- Terry

It was a good thing that he was making another trip, because the only things available at the moment were a couple of water bottles and a watermelon, even though there was no knife available to cut it open. The trip was a wise choice indeed.

He didn't know why it was so unsettling that he was the first one there, but it was. It was part of his shtick, being the late one of the group. Sometimes he went out of his way to be late, cause it was straight up wrong for Jake Peralta to be on time. Much less early. That was Santiago's job.

Who still wasn't there. He wasn't stupid enough to ask Terry if Amy was coming, but he kind of already assumed she was. When Terry invited the whole nine nine it was basically a given that Amy would be there. She never missed out on extra curricular group activities. Everyone was pretty predictable when it came to these things. Rosa: guaranteed no, Charles: 85% chance of saying yes, 100% chance if Jake was planning on going, Scully and Hitchcock: hit and miss unless food was promised. Jake would usually make it if it sounded fun (e.g. pool parties, laser tag battles, and the like). Amy was a guaranteed yes. She took all of those team building exercises as mandatory, even if she was explicitly told they weren't. Jake suspected that she thought they would count as extra credit when the time came along for her consideration as captain, and that she probably had marked down all of the stuff she had gone to over the years to prove how dedicated she was.

And that meant that if she wasn't there by then, she probably wasn't coming. And Jake hated the fact that it bummed him out. He could pretend that he was just disappointed he couldn't entertain himself by bothering her, but it was more than that. A lot more than that.

Amy made things more enjoyable. If she was there all their conversations would still be filled with their typical teasing, but there was always something under that (for Jake, at least). It was always interesting to see her out of their usual work environment. The team went out for drinks pretty often, but activities like this were different. Amy was always a little nervous when she had to adjust to a new environment and it showed off a new side to her every time- he got a little more acquainted with unprepared, still awkward, and completely clueless Amy Santiago. His partner was usually bumbling in social situations, but she was rarely clueless.

Of course, while he would never admit it, Jake also liked seeing her in not-work clothes.

Another thing that took Jake by surprise that day was when he looked up at the sound of the creaking gate to be greeted by the sight of Amy.

She was wearing one of those white lace knitted cover up things he had seen on girls before, but of course hers wasn't nearly as sheer as any he had ever seen so he had no idea what she was wearing under it. He had a quick thought that that he really hoped that Santiago wasn't one of those types that came to a pool party only to stay and tan on the deck. And there was no use in pretending that a big reason behind that was how badly he wanted to see what she was wearing under it.

"How are you early?" Amy's jaw dropped from a mix of utter disbelief and complete confusion.

"I'm not early, you're late."

"No, the party starts at 2, and it's 1:45 right now. You are impossibly early," she said decidedly as she sauntered towards him. While Jake hadn't even brought his own towel, Santiago came completely prepared (as usual, since she always over packed for anything). She had what looked like a normal purse along with a huge hulking beach bag that in all likelihood was bottomless if inspected. It probably fit a towel, sunscreen, first aid kit, crank radio, back up generator, and all of the secrets of the universe.

Her hair was down and Jake was reminded once again how much it sucked that she rarely let it down, because it always looked amazing. Especially when paired with her skin that was made for summer sun.

He was also reminded how lucky he was that mind readers didn't exist because he always had the stupidest thoughts around Santiago that he was so thankful no one else could hear.

"Terry sent me at least five emails everyday this week about how it started at 1:30. And he set an alarm on my phone and somehow shut off the snooze option and made it repeat like five times even though I shut it off every time, so I'm sure I've got the time right. I thought everyone over the age of 40 had no idea how to work a cell phone. When did that change?"

She set down her bags to mull over the information he provided, but it took her no time at all to figure out what had happened if the look on her face was anything to go by.

"Oh... I get it. I've been telling everyone to do that for years. I guess they finally listened to me," she almost gloated with the pride of a teenager that had been listening to a song for months before it started playing on the radio. She smirked at the confusion plastered to his face.

"I've always said we need to tell you to be places an hour before everyone else so you would actually show up on time. Guess it worked."

Jake stuck his tongue out her as she leaned over the table to read the note and pretended she didn't notice his taunt. He considered staying where he was until another team member arrived, but there was no telling how long that would take since he was actually... ugh... early. While for the most part everything was fine between the two of them, if there wasn't at least a bit of a distraction (work, in most cases) his urges to kiss her were a little more harder to ignore, so he wasn't going to risk putting everything in jeopardy by just sitting there.

In less than five seconds Jake had made it from the deck to the bottom of the pool with one of the biggest cannonballs in his life.

He came up with a gasp and shot out of the water flipping his hair back, and when he did it correctly he couldn't resist whispering "Nailed it" to himself. He expected to see Santiago showing some kind of annoyance at him, but instead she was getting comfortable in one of the lawn chairs like she was going to be there for awhile.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not coming in until everyone else gets here. So just splash around or something for a few minutes and then someone will come to play with you," she waved her hand dismissively as she slipped off her flip flops and laid back on a long beach chair and was the picture perfect portrayal of every tanning girl at every pool in every movie ever. And she looked good doing it too.

He tried waiting, he really did. But he only managed to wait for 30 seconds before bugging her.

"C'mon! It's boring all by myself!"

"No," she refused with all the leisure in the world.

"C'mon!"

"No."

"Ammmmmmmmmyyyyyy-"

"No."

Since she only left him with one option, she shouldn't have been so surprised when he finally splashed her.

"Jake! That's cold!"

"It won't be cold if you come in and get used to it. Otherwise I'm gonna keep on splashing you."

Santiago took a moment to count up all of her options. In the immediate vicinity there wasn't a comfortable place to sit that was out of splash range, so that was out. She then tried to stare him down to see if he really would follow through on his threat, which of course he would. Eventually she huffed in frustration and gave him a frightening scowl before proceeding to peel off her cover up.

She was wearing one of those old style swimsuits that made it look like she either walked out of a history book or some really old dirty magazines. A black two piece (that was a girl clothes term, right?) with white polka dots in a style that Jake was sure had to have a name, but no way he knew it. The one thing he knew for certain was that he should not think she looked so attractive in it.

He was having some of his stupid thoughts again, but one voice of reason was telling him that he should avoid being caught staring, but that was probably the one thought he chose to ignore.

When her eyes finally landed on him he snapped out of his reverie to give a whistle and bring it all back down to Peralta and Santiago teasing, and not Jake thinking about Amy like that.

"You're such a child," she groaned, but he could see the smile begging to be broken from her lips, and he knew he made the right choice then when he held himself back all of those times before from kissing her or something equally as stupid. If he hadn't, he would have never been able to see the easy looks on her face again, and he would have just died if he ruined that.

Amy hot stepped her way across the burning pavement to the pool stairs and made it down to the second step before stopping at a standstill. The water level was about half way up her thighs, but she looked planted to the staircase and was glaring up a storm at him for some unfathomable reason.

"You didn't say it was this cold," Amy seethed through gritted teeth like he had lied to her, or even deliberately mislead her. And he recalled never mentioning temperature, even though she must have never been in a pool in her life if she expected it to be the same temperature as the air.

"Not when you're used to it. It's faster if you just jump in."

"It's freezing," Amy argued as if that had any hope of being a valid excuse.

"Don't be a baby, Santiago. Woman up and jump in. It's not that cold."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but actually did walk up the steps and down the sides of the pavement to the deep end.

"Just to be clear, I'm not doing this because you're taunting me. I was going to do it anyway, but by the time I decided to you were already saying stuff like the idiot you are. And I'm not insecure enough to wait just because I don't want to seem like I'm giving in. Clear?"

"Crystal," Jake nodded in the most condescending manner possible, then tapped his wrist to signify that he was waiting.

Amy jumped in not a second later taking Jake by surprise (but only slightly).

When her head reached the surface he started laughing before she could even take a breath and sweep the hair out of her eyes.

"What's so funny?"

"You still have to plug your nose?"

With that her face flashed from indignation to embarrassment, and that only made him laugh harder, even though he knew he shouldn't.

"Shut up. I just never learned it right," she snapped and tried to sound intimidating, but it really didn't help that she was in the deep end (9 ft) so she had to paddle to stay above water. The exact opposite of intimidating.

"It's all about breathing out your nose when you go under," Jake told her when he sobered up, which was mostly a reaction to her getting fed up with him making fun of her and paddling to the wall to rest against it.

"Duh, Peralta. I'm not an idiot. It just never worked right for me."

"Well I guess you just never had the right teacher. I'll help you."

Amy eyed him doubtfully, and he couldn't blame her considering the laughing fit he had just finished at her expense. Still, they could go from teasing to not-teasing pretty quickly so he didn't think it would be a problem. He and Santiago weren't enemies even though they acted like it half of the time. He wasn't sure if friends was the right word to describe their relationship, but it was the closest he could think of. Way more accurate than acquaintances. Of course they were partners, but in their out of work relationship, friendship was close enough. They knew they could trust each other when it came down to it, but that was more of a partner thing. He actually liked being around Amy, and that seemed more like a friendship thing to him. He would say Amy was his friend. He wasn't sure she considered him a friend, but that didn't change it.

Jake was aware he was kidding himself by pretending there wasn't another type of relationship other than friendship that explained why he liked being around her. Like that he wanted an actual relationship relationship.

He had done okay so far ignoring that part of him, so he figured he could keep on doing that indefinitely. And he was aware he was kidding himself about that too, but Jake was a procrastinator by all means and never had any qualms on pushing off his problems to future Jake. Fuck that guy.

"Seriously. What kind of partner would I be if I let you continue not knowing how to swim without plugging your nose? It could be a matter of life or death one day."

Amy shot him a warning glance and he held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, last joke, I swear. It'll at least keep us busy until everyone else gets here."

It took a bit more poking a prodding, but Jake finally convinced her to let him teach her. Or at least let him try.

Amy was pretty sure that he hadn't plugged his nose when he jumped in the first time, but even so she made him demonstrate his 'mad skillz' before letting it go any further. And even though he seemed to be adequate at it, that didn't mean he was going to be anywhere near a good teacher. So Amy agreed to let him try.

His first 'lesson' was checking to make sure if she knew how to breathe out her nose, which he maintained was a necessary test for them to proceed so she followed his orders begrudgingly. Jake seemed earnest enough that he was trying to teach her, but she knew for a fact that some steps he added in just for fun, but she didn't argue because she just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

Though at least a little part of her wanted to drag it out. But just a tiny, infinitesimal part of her.

That was the part that was actually enjoying the whole thing. Enjoying being with her partner in a very not-partner situation. No responsibilities and no one to bother them (at least for now), just her and him. Amy and Jake.

And maybe that part of her was bigger than she would have liked it to be.

They had this balance that they had finally reached. He would tease her and she would pretend to be bothered, and she would tease him and he would... do whatever he does. There wasn't an exact word for everything that Jake did, but she knew that whatever it was, it was wonderful. He was good at keeping their relationship in balance. He always was a people person.

Amy was the one who couldn't read social situations and couldn't read him. Sometimes she got the feeling that he wanted... more. But other times she was sure she was wrong. So if she ever tipped the scale of their relationship by getting too close or too distant, he always set it back in balance.

Truth be told though, most of the time (and every time lately) it was him pulling her back from the distance. That was all she could handle lately, all she would even try. Medium or far off. Kylie had told her that all the times Amy considered as her trying to start something weren't obvious enough, but Amy wasn't so sure. Her friend said that most guys needed stuff spelled out for them, but Amy was convinced that wasn't the case here.

Jake was good with people, and social stuff. He always knew what Amy was really thinking, even if she tried to hide it. So he had to know about this. Or was just subconsciously ignoring it since it would ruin everything.

And even if he really was that oblivious, he was a risk taker, 100%. He never thought things through, and if he really wanted something he went after it. And since he never went after her it was pretty clear how he felt. That's just the way it was.

"Okay, now breathe out your nose and put your face down in the water. Not your whole head, just your face. And breathe out the whole time, before, during, and after until you come up again," he instructed and she just stared and waited for him to give her real directions because those obviously had to be a joke. It soon became clear that those instructions were not, in fact a joke.

"I'm gonna look like an idiot," she objected.

"Yeah, you will," Jake agreed unceremoniously. "But I'm the only one here right now, so that doesn't matter. And even if I wanted to go off and tell everyone how I'm king of the sea and you're some useless land mammal they'd just assume that I was lying to make myself feel better and that the exact opposite was true. So do it."

She couldn't argue with him on any of his points. He was probably right about telling people and their assumptions, but the first part was what he had 100% correct. It didn't matter if she looked like an idiot in front of him. Any other person on earth and she would be at least a little bit worried about looking ridiculous before them. But not Jake. And it wasn't just because he had done things a lot more foolish than this (which was true). She never had to worry about looking bad in front of him, cause even if she screwed up it didn't matter to him.

So of course she followed his directions. Breathing out, face under and breathing out, and then coming up for air a few seconds later.

"It worked! Kinda! Like it worked at first, but I was still breathing out but I did it lighter or something and some water started going up so I had to come up for air," Amy beamed, and Jake nodded along with an approving smile.

"Okay, now try humming while breathing out your nose. Above water first then below."

This time she followed his directions without any questions, above then below. The first time she went 8 seconds, second she lasted 10, and third she made it to 12 but stopped there when she sensed she was pushing her limit. She didn't have a lot of practice holding her breath even with her nose plugged, so she was content to stop there for the time being.

It didn't help her confusion about Jake when his broad smile was filled only with affection.

"I think that's my stopping point for now," she stated, even though it was obvious that he was waiting for her to say something more. And she knew exactly what he wanted to hear. "And maybe you're a better teacher than I thought you were," she admitted with pseudo-reluctance and pursed her lips in a failed attempt to repress her grin.

"Don't I know it! Once you get to be a pro like me you can do it upside down," he bragged and flipped down to do a handstand underwater with his legs sticking straight up.

Amy honestly tried not to stare at how his swim trunks clung to him and outlined some parts that she should definitely not be checking out on her partner. And even though she tried, she failed miserably at it. Jake came up all too soon with a toothy grin on his face and she said a pretty stupid thing to say in that situation.

"Bet you can't do that for longer than 15 seconds."

Really, she just wanted the chance to stare at him some more, but considering the circumstances it was a slightly suspicious thing to say.

"A challenge?" Jake raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Bold words coming from someone who was just plugging their nose a few minutes ago."

In the back of her mind Amy noted that it was more than a few minutes ago, but the thought was so far back that she barely acknowledged it.

Soon he was under again and she had ample time to study him. Since they were in the shallow end, everything above (or technically below) his lower torso was underwater, so she had a limited view of his chest (a fact that was slightly disappointing). Jake was confident enough to have been swimming shirtless the whole time, but she could really only sneak quick peaks at anything other than his face if she wanted to avoid attracting his notice.

So she took her chance to stare without any repercussions. Jake was surprisingly lean, and she didn't know how he managed it. Of course they all had to stay fit enough to be able to pass the field exams, but she just assumed that he must have barely scraped by. He ate the most excessively sugared and fatty foods in existence to the point that she had been legitimately concerned for his health before. But from the looks of it he was doing just fine health wise.

She had seen him shirtless before, more than a couple times over the years- but it was only ever for a quick moment if he was changing into a new outfit for an op in haste, and a couple of times when he made a mess someway or another on his clothes, and once or twice when the nine nine had been expected for a ceremony or something of the like and he had to put on his uniform on the way. None of those instances had been safe times for her to more or less check her partner out.

The smattering of brown hair on his chest that trailed down to the area that she was definitely not thinking about wasn't exactly foreign, but it wasn't familiar either.

A new discovery was a birthmark located a few inches above his left hip. She was sure the cinnamon colored splotch had more of a definitive shape, but it was always obscured by refraction in the water due to it's inconvenient placement. Always below the surface whether he was right side up or upside down. Amy's curiosity was piqued, but she couldn't exactly ask to see it better without completely crossing the line, and that fact was more than a little frustrating.

Jake's head suddenly popped back up after a quick flip and Amy surely would have jumped a foot in the air if it wasn't for water resistance.

"How long was that?" He gasped, reminding her that he was actually underwater for a reason.

"I don't know. I forgot to count," Amy's only excuse for honesty was that she was surprised and couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Seriously?! What were you doing the whole time?"

In his disbelief he didn't seem to notice the flush that crept over her cheeks.

"Count this time," he ordered in irritation before going under again.

The 30 second mark was when Amy started getting bored. She was sure he practiced holding his breath in his off time for the sole purpose of showing off in the future rather than for any usefulness if he ever needed it in an emergency (though she couldn't think of an actual emergency that would require holding your breath other than a Titanic-esque boating accident). She never was good with boredom, so she crossed the distance between them to tickle his outstretched feet, and laughed at the eruption of bubbles that burst on contact with the air before Jake came up hacking and spluttering.

"Sabotage! You got water in my nose! After I was being such a nice teacher!"

He took a glance at their distance before dunking her, though she actually had enough time to breathe out her nose in preparation, and got her revenge on his revenge by pushing him under when she came up for a breath. He resurfaced soon enough and Amy tried to dunk him again but it didn't work so she hoisted most of her weight onto his shoulders still to no avail.

"Hey, you're not supposed to have a good foot hold!"

"I'm sorry, apparently I didn't get the manual on rules of engagement for water fights," Jake snarked back quick and easy.

Whether it was from holding her breath so many times or some other thing she once again had no name for (that could probably be summed up with the elation she was feeling because she hadn't had this much fun in so long, or the exhilaration that came from being so close to Jake) she felt giddy. Amy felt careless and lightheaded and wanted nothing more than to laugh, and so she did.

Her dizzying delight appeared to be contagious because soon he was laughing right along with her. It got to the point where she forgot what she was even laughing about (something he said?) but that fact only made her laugh harder, and if she didn't have such a solid hold on him there was a fair chance she would drown. It was a stupid silly moment, but it was wonderful just like him.

In the blink of an eye, Amy suddenly took note of their closeness. She had stopped laughing by that point and gave up on trying to use her body weight to push him under, but her hands still rested on his shoulders. His heat used her palms as a conductor to send bolts of electricity down her spine and made the water seem like a safety hazard.

Jake was still laughing one of his full body laughs, the ones that emanated from the center of his being and shook his shoulders as it escaped his lips. His head was thrown back, but when it returned and his eyes met Amy's they were bright and shining with clear amusement.

He was looking at her all smiles- and god, she loved that smile. But the first moment he had to examine her face his head tilted slightly to the side as it developed a curious expression from what was no doubt written on hers. She dragged her bottom lip between her teeth for only a second, but it was enough to catch his attention and when he looked up again there was something in his eyes that she didn't understand but left her with one thought:

'Yup, I'm going to do this. I'm going to ruin all of this for a chance to kiss him.'

It was a thousand times easier to close the gap between them than Amy ever would have thought. It was practically effortless. Their lips connected and filled all the empty space that had always lingered out of reach.

Jake was compliant to begin with, quickly giving in to her warmth, but soon enough his need shown through his insistence, pushing and pulling with no rhyme or reason.

Amy pulled back much sooner than she wanted to, but she had to check and see if she really did ruin it, ruin them. Before she was even an inch away his hands reached up to her and guided her face back to his so they could taste each other again.

She intertwined her fingers behind his neck and his hands found her waist to pull her flush against him and he was everything she imagined and more. And she had imagined it-kissing him- many times before. There was such a stark contrast between the reality and the fantasy that everything she had previously pictured was faded into a ghost of a memory. The reality was her nerves tingling and her skin burning so bright that the water around her felt like ice and sent shivers down her spine.

In their quest to be closer Jake ended up walking backward until he was stopped by a wall, which was more than fine by her. The taste of his lips and mouth as she tied her tongue with his was better than a dream.

They broke apart for a breath and it was over. Like the snap of the fingers Amy was reminded of who they were and what they were doing and what it meant. And she realized that she really screwed up, big time. All she could do was to rush and try to repair all of the damage she had done to their relationship.

"I- I didn't mean to, I'm-" she stammered before he interrupted her flurry of excuses.

"Please don't say you're sorry. I've been waiting so long for that to happen and I can't handle if you apologize for it."

His voice was soft in an attempt of faking indifference to his resignation, but he couldn't fool her. There was an unnatural seriousness to his face that looked so strange and wrong on her partner who always smiled. She wanted to see him smile again.

"How long? Have you been waiting for that to happen?" Amy asked with a sense of caution to not push him too far and cause him to run away, because for once in his life she needed him to stay.

"Too long."

"So why haven't you done it before? Kissed me before?"

"I didn't want to, y'know, mess things up," Jake explained followed by a swallow and the pursing of his lips. "But I just really can't deal with you regretting something as amazing as that, so do me a favor and just don't tell me, okay? And we can go back to being Peralta and Santiago and its fine and just forget about it."

She hadn't felt true emptiness until he let go of her, leaving her skin stinging from his absence. Jake tried his best to move away from her but her arms were still around his neck anchoring her to him.

When Amy kissed him the second time he didn't respond and she pulled back in frustration.

"Kiss me."

She leaned in again but he pulled back further.

"What are you doing?"

"Kissing you," Amy said after giving the 'You're an idiot' look reserved especially for him. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Yeah, but why?"

"You can be so stupid sometimes," she said as she lazily lifted her hands to cup his cheeks, ignoring his slight flinch. "Because I don't regret kissing you and I'm not going to forget about it. And I'm not going to let you ignore it because you're an idiot if you think you're the only one here who's been waiting a while for that to happen."

Jake gave her his rapt attention, his eyes searching hers the whole time to find a trace of doubt, but it was pointless since she had never been so sure about anything in her life. The looks that came and went across his face were only flashes- confusion, disbelief, surprise, relief- finally landed on him staring at her like she was a marvel.

Thankfully enough he didn't wait long to reunite them. Jake twisted his fingers in her wet hair and she knew it was going to be tangled into a mess later, but she didn't care since she was kissing him again and he was kissing back. Really, he was the initiator and she was the one kissing back, but that didn't matter either.

Amy didn't know if they had been kissing for 60 seconds or 20 minutes but she could stand a couple hours of this. She pulled back to catch a glimpse of his face, but he didn't indulge her want and continued to kiss along her jaw and neck further spurring her already heavy breathing.

"This isn't like just kissing for you, right?" Amy breathed in a moment of insecurity, though the set in stone clutch she had on him didn't exactly send the message of sincerity she hoped to give off. Everything was going beyond fantastic, but she needed to get this straight and out of the way.

"Of course not. You?"

She shook her head vehemently and wished that she could just leave well enough along, but she couldn't help herself.

"I just need to be clear and for you to like say it or something, but this isn't just physical, right?"

Jake straightened up at her question and looked serious again, but this time it was a seriousness filled with earnestness and affection. There was a heat in his gaze that was so intense it was almost intimidating, but she couldn't have looked away even if she wanted to.

"You're beautiful, Amy. But you're so much more. To me."

She wasn't used to him being the sincere one in their interactions but it was a good different. Even though she was left speechless from his words and had nothing to say in response so she floundered for a way to return the sentiment.

"I mean, you're attractive, but not enough for me to ignore how immature and stupid you can be if I didn't like you or anything."

"Amy Santiago, are you calling me hot?" He gasped as a hand flew to his chest like it was the most surprising thing he had ever heard. The reaction was followed by that smile of his that she had missed so much in the time it was gone.

"Shut up! That wasn't supposed to be the part you focused on!"

"I know, but I want to," he grinned.

Amy stepped back to get a better angle to splash him that instigated a full out water war with both of their eyes shut to keep out the crashing waves and basically just left them aiming blindly in the direction of the other's laughter.

Amy was completely shrieks and squeals, and had an honest to god giggle bubble up her throat once or twice. In between the chaotic hurricane Jake captured her wrist and pulled her to him in what probably should have been a kiss, but was more like pressing their smiles together.

He rested his forehead against hers and angled away so they were breathing each other's exhilaration and nothing had ever felt so good as his arms wrapped around her. As far as she was concerned, nothing existed besides Jake.

"Good, right?" He sighed as he twiddled strands of her hair with his fingers.

"Great," she corrected and pulled back to finally get a good look at his face.

He was beaming at her with pink cheeks and shining eyes with the most euphoric expression she had ever seen on any human being. Actually, when she thought about it, his cheeks were a little too pink for the situation. Then she remembered that the situation was they were kissing in a pool outside in the summer under the blazing sun, and there was no denying that Peralta was 500 shades of pale.

"Did you forget to put on sunscreen? Your face is looking all red and burnt," Amy chastised him because at least one of them had to be the responsible one in whatever this was, and whatever it was going to be.

"God no," he dismissed her with a full laugh. "I learned my lesson from the crimson horror of 2011. Most painful summer of my life. No, the redness is all- uh... all... you," he trailed off adorably flustered looking somewhere over her shoulder to avoid her gaze.

"Good. Cause I don't want to have to deal with your gross peeling again this time around. It was completely-" Amy's teasing was interrupted by her cell phone ringing (even though it took her a good five seconds to even recognize the tone she had been using all year). Without thinking she shoved Jake away to race towards the noise as quick as possible- which turned out to be not quick at all since she had to wade through the water to even get there. Her feet still burned against the rocks, but just because all sorts of crazy things were happening that day was no excuse to ignore proper precaution and she refused to run around a pool with wet feet. After frantically digging around her purse she dumped the whole thing out on the ground to make the search easier and dropped to her knees. By the time she located her cell it had already stopped ringing, but the caller redialed immediately and Amy put it on speakerphone so she wouldn't get it wet.

"Jake I'm assuming left his phone somewhere since he has been ignoring my snaps all day. Is he there?" Even though it was coming through the speaker, it was easy to tell by Gina's smug tone that she already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Jake said as he placed his hands on Amy's shoulder before she even realized he was behind her.

"Good. Are you guys fucking yet?"

"Is that where all of you guys are?" Jake asked, managing to sound only the slightest bit bothered and annoyed with her antics as he sat adjacent to her. It was a much better reaction than Amy's, whose whole face was on fire and body frozen stiff at their coworker's words. It was a good thing that the whole conversation was taking place over the phone so no one else could see her response.

"Yeah. We were tired of both of you making puppy dog eyes at each other so we're all out having fun without you, because we were sure that even though you both are totes oblivious you wouldn't be able to resist each other wet and half naked with your swimsuits clinging to your best parts. So did it work?"

"We'll get back to you on that," he answered before hanging up.

Amy knew that she should at least try to look a little less mortified, but she didn't know how. She knew how it must have looked to him, and she really needed to tell him that wasn't it. She needed to tell him that she wasn't embarrassed or ashamed of him and that she would shout it from the roof tops- it was just that she wasn't used to her romantic life being on display for all of her coworkers. She really needed him to know that, but her throat was closed shut and she couldn't get the words out.

"I do want to, you know," Jake said as if he was just casually mentioning it, but they both knew that wasn't true. Amy looked up to see him sitting beside and facing her on the deck, focused on drawing circles with the water that was still dripping down from his fingers. It was the equivalent of when she picked at the threads of her favorite jacket when things were getting too emotional and significant in a conversation and she tried to pretend that she wasn't laying her heart on the line with every word she said. No one was ever that preoccupied with jacket threads- or drawing circles in the sun.

"What?" She asked after clearing her throat twice because once just didn't cut it.

"Fuck you. And watch boring movies with you on the couch. And hold your hand. And make you breakfast. And tell you I love you."

"Good," she confirmed and swallowed every bit of apprehension and hesitation and called on the confidence of drunk Amy. "Because I would even watch Die Hard more than two times in a row for you. And I want that too, the love you part. Saying it," she told him, because that was as close as she was going to get at that moment. They were still beating around the bush with the whole confession thing, but they had been partners for years. They knew each other. And they knew what they meant.

"And god I want to fuck you. I'm going to fuck you. And it's going to be amazing," she promised, because to tell the truth she had been waiting a long time for a lot more than kissing him. And from the look on his face the feeling was mutual.

"Let's go," Jake offered his hand after he was on his feet and Amy gladly took it.

"We're taking your car since I'm assuming you didn't bring a towel, and there is no way you're stepping foot in my car and dripping all over the place."

Jake huffed and groaned in response, likely more upset that she was completely right than her setting down some rules.

Amy wasn't sure how much time had passed- only that the morning felt like it happened ages ago. And that it had been at least and hour (and probably more) since 1:45, which was a beyond suspicious amount of time for them to be left to their own devices when supposedly other people planned on coming. She told herself that they would have figured out the gang's plan even if Gina hadn't called (they both were detectives after all) and while most likely true it definitely would have taken a lot longer to come to the conclusion. Even so, she didn't mind the change of pace.

It was weird how they could go from all the admissions and proclamations (and the discussion of sex that was surely coming) to just regular Jake and Amy, him helping her pick up the mess she had made from dumping her purse. But it was a wonderful weird- and things were never normal with Jake, and she didn't want normal. She wanted him. Weirdness and all.

Her assumptions were proven correct after she had gathered up all of her belongings and it became apparent that the only possessions he had were the trunks he was wearing and the keys he had left on the table. The keys he was now idly tossing back and forth between his hands. The keys that lead to his car and everything that followed with that. The keys that represented so much more than just unlocking a door.

He was tossing her fate back and forth between his hands.

"Do you wanna hear what I'm going to do to you?" Amy asked with a level of confidence that even drunk Amy had never reached. Jake was driving and paying attention to the road- something he definitely didn't need to be distracted from, but she couldn't resist. At his silence a mischievous smirk spread across her face.

"I'm gonna feel every part of you. Especially your cock. And I'm gonna kiss and bite my way all down your neck until I decide you deserve it and suck you off, but I'm not gonna let you come until you're begging to and moaning my name. And then I'm going to fuck you senseless."

His jaw clenched and his grip on the wheel tightened, and she was only left with a single thought.

'This is going to be fun .'

AN: I think it might be physically impossible for me to get a one shot in under 2,000 words now. I don't know what went wrong.
Please leave your thoughts because reviews make my days, and my weeks, and my months, and my years, and my life.
Really keep me motivated and breathing.

And does someone want to squeal with me over the speech he gave in The Funeral? Cause I am down with that.