Unexpected Secret - A Story for ZiDenBedste

Chapter 7

The sound of the elevator opening on the complete opposite side of the bullpen was enough to make everyone look up to who it could have been already. The day shift had only started half-hour ago, so the chances that it was a perp was low, but every day on this job was a mystery.

The bullpen went back to normal when Terry stepped off the elevator, apart from Jake, who instead chose to approach the sergeant before he could sit at his desk.

"Hey, Sarge, what makes you so late?" Jake wonders, it surprises him that he was one asking that question to Terry, and not vice versa.

Terry sighs. "I went to drop Cagney and Lacey at daycare because Sharon's on bedrest, but I got an email twenty minutes ago saying that the daycare was closed because the carer called in sick this morning and it was too late to find a substitute."

Jake's gaze drops to the floor where he's met with Cagney and Lacey both looking up at him with great intensity. "So you brought them here?"

"Well I couldn't take them back home because of Sharon. She wouldn't be able to do the things they would ask her to because she's not allowed out of bed."

"Why didn't you drop them off with Sharon's parents or something?" Jake rose his eyebrows.

"Don't you think I thought that?" Terry snapped back before apologizing to the detective. "Sharon's parents are out of town and the babysitter is at school."

Jake nods before being cut off from speaking but Holt grabbing both the detective and sergeant's attention from the doorway to his office.

"Peralta, back to work. Jeffords, a word please."

Terry looks to Jake, back at Holt before repeating the gaze-throwing a couple more times.

As if knowing what Terry was hesitant to ask, Jake looks up to the tall sergeant. "I'll take Cagney and Lacey for a minute if you want me to." He offers.

Terry smiles to the detective, placing his daughter's tiny hands into one of Jake's each before going into the captain's office.

A silent moment passes before Jake bends down to be the same height as the twins. "Who wants a snack from the vending machine?" He asks.

The two girls look up to him with wide smiles, yelling out with joy at the proposal. With that, Jake leads the two of them into the break room and over to the vending machine.

Amy picks her head up from her desk at the sound of the two girls' excitement of getting a snack before smiling subtly at Jake as he leads both the twins into the break room.

A minute or so later, the three of them emerge back out to the bullpen, just in time for Terry as he leaves the captain's office.

The sergeant takes his daughters from the detective before sitting at his desk behind him.

Jake turns his attention away from the twin girls to go back to his work before catching a glimpse of Amy looking over.

"Whatcha looking at, Santiago?" Jake wonders, raising his eyebrows slightly at his girlfriend sitting opposite him.

Amy quickly shakes her head. "What? I wasn't looking at you, I was looking at Cagney and Lacey."

"Hurtful." Jake says with a hint of a smile.

Amy returns a playful look to him across the desks before speaking up. "You're gonna make a good dad," she says without really putting much thought into it. When she catches Charles's subtle stare from his own desk, she realizes exactly what she said. "You know, someday." She adds.