Frayed Edges

Of Course I Do

The cacophony of the precinct was something Jake always enjoyed. In fact, he couldn't imagine how anyone could get anything done without this much noise around them, but then again maybe that's why his paperwork was full of so many errors.

He scribbled the last few words on his latest arrest form as quickly as he could, his eyes flickering between it and the clock across from his desk. Once signed and finished, he jumped to his feet, grabbing the large stack of crumpled paper placed in his out tray, if of course, you could call a jumbled mess of forms and trash an out tray.

He placed the pile of paper on Terry's desk, hoping to make a quick exit before he noticed the multitude of mistakes littering each and every one of them.

"Uh huh, no Jake, you know I'm not accepting these without checking them first"

He let out a deep sigh "Come on Terry, you know me I'm great at paperwork" the lieutenant stared him down until Jake reluctantly walked back towards him.

"Peralta these are the worst arrest forms I've ever seen..." he began cringing as he read through them "This one has PB&J on it!"

Jake's lips drew into an uneasy smile "I was leaving it for you... as a snack?"

"Jelly is full of refined sugar, Terry doesn't look like this eating refined sugar" he motioned to his defined chest and Jake sighed once more at his failed attempt to diffuse the situation before slumping into a seat beside the lieutenant's desk. "Why are you in such a rush anyway?" he asked, watching the way Jake's eyes repeatedly checked the clock.

"I haven't seen Mia in nearly a week! Between her late-night shifts and my late-night stakeouts were lucky if we even get dinner together once a week" he rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke "But tonight is gonna be special! She's off work so I'm taking her for a really romantic meal uptown, no sports on TV, no wing Wednesday, cloth napkins, the works, the place doesn't even serve chicken fingers, that's how fancy it is!"

Terry smiled a knowing grin, Jake's excitement for tonight was evident and it warmed his heart to see his old friend so happy. "So things are getting kinda serious with you two?"

A blush crept on the corner of Jake's cheeks and his voice fell slightly quieter as he spoke "I mean yeah, kind of... She's great and she's so fun and cool and whenever I'm with her I'm the happiest I've ever been so I mean if that's serious then yeah I guess" he began to blabber and trip over his words as he spoke.

"Jake, is tonight an extra special night?" Terry asked leaning in slightly.

"What do you mean?" His brows furrowed but he knew Terry was onto him.

"Well... Let's just say that I can see you're pulling out all the stops here" His grin began to widen even more "I mean you love restaurants that show sports and you love wing Wednesday and you loooooove chicken fingers so I'm wondering if you're trying to impress her before you say-"

"Alright alright!" he cut him off quickly trying to avoid the awkward confession "I mean maybe, I've been thinking about it a lot and I don't know, I've only felt like this once before with..." his eyes flickered to the two women sat on the other side of the bullpen "so yeah I think I do"

Terry's was practically beaming with excitement. He quickly got to his feet and pulled Jake up with him before wrapping him into a painfully tight bear hug.

"I'm so happy for you little man" Jake was gasping for air unable to answer him "I'll finish your reports for you." he placed him back down with little grace but Jake was just happy to have solid ground under his feet.

"You're the best Terry! Thank you, I promise to babysit for you any time" he was already out the bullpen when he shouted the last few words. He travelled down the stairs out the precinct doors and into his car in seconds thanks to the new spring in his step. Once sat inside he felt the buzz of his cell in his pocket.