Amy sat at her desk, her files stacked in a neat pile, not a single one overhanging the rest, tabs cascading down coherently. She typed quietly, closing out the arrest she had made only that morning with Rosa, a simple B&E of a string of bodega's. She submitted it and sighed and closed down the system to the home page. Boredom lurked on the edge of her mind, she shouldn't acknowledge it, shouldn't allow it any room at all to fester but she knew it was true. She was bored. She needed something more, something exciting, ever since her bet with Jake had come to an end there had been less of a drive to her work performance. Factor in that he was given the exciting opportunity to go undercover which he would not stop talking about since returning, Amy couldn't help but feel overlooked.
"I'm more than capable." She muttered under her breath as she reached forward and grabbed the folder on the top of her open case pile.
She just needed something new, something exciting, something big to showcase her abilities to Captain Holt and his superiors. Why should Jake get all the fun? She frowned as she read through the file, it was a cold case, one that had frustrated her due to not having any recognisable pattern. A series of random arson attempts but there was no rhyme or reason that Amy could see, nothing that connected the targeted buildings. She pinched her nose and rubbed her eyes before closing it, hunched over the desk, defeated only to immediately jump out of her skin and sit up straight at the sound of the deep voice calling from behind her.
"Detective Santiago, a minute please." Captain Holt spoke from his office doorway.
Amy gulped and looked across the desks at Jake who shrugged and smirked and then buried his nose back into his case report. She stood and let out a shaky breath as she glanced around the room for sympathy from someone, anyone, yet only Charles offered a smile, albeit weak and strained. Rosa just stared blankly and nodded while Gina grinned with a sense of glee that only made Amy simmer in annoyance.
"You asked for me, Captain." She said in a neutral tone as she closed the door to his office and moved to stand before the desk.
"Yes." he said simply folding his hands together, his elbows resting on the dark wood between them.
"I have noticed you seem, as the kids would say, down lately, is everything okay, detective?" Captain Holt asked.
"Oh." Amy answered honestly, caught off guard as she felt her eyebrows rise up, "yes, yes I am sir, thank you for asking." She said in a low tone.
"Are you sure? It seems that ever since Peralta's return you are more and more...despondent. Or have I read this situation wrong?"
"No...sir...I...I am glad Jake is back and that his time undercover went well." She said in a false voice.
"Then why the negative attitude?" he asked bluntly.
"I...I guess I have been struggling with..." Amy faltered, hating the word that bounced around her mind, knowing it would sound childish, "jealous." She admitted, looking down at the ground.
"Oh." Captain Holt said, the inflection of his tone now higher than before.
Amy looked up to see a look of surprise on his face and immediately panicked, "not that I have an issue with him, we work well together, I would never begrudge him for the opportunity he had."
"But you wish to have your own opportunity to go undercover?" He summarised.
"I...don't know, I don't want to go undercover for the sake of it, I just...I want an opportunity to prove myself, be given a task that I can do a good job with." She said quietly, looking back down at the floor.
"I see." Captain Holt said thoughtfully, "I see, well I appreciate your candid approach to this conversation Detective, please, let me give your request some thought, there may be something that we can do, you are a model detective in this precinct, there is no reason why that cannot be demonstrated through your great work ethic." He said.
Amy looked up again, her features softer now as she stared across the space at the older cop, her respect for him only continuing to grow as her heart swelled at his praise.
"Tha...thank you sir, that means a lot to me." She said earnestly.
He nodded holding her gaze for a moment, and then dropped it and returned his attention to the brief before him.
"That will be all for now Santiago." He said, ending the conversation.
"Thank you sir." Amy said politely before turning and leaving, returning to her desk.
"Ahhhh someone's in trouble." Gina teased.
"The only one likely to get in trouble here is you for being lazy." Amy retorted as she sat down at her desk.
"Ooh quick reply, lame burn, two out of five." Gina said in a low voice from behind her.
"What did Captain Holt want?" Rosa demanded, appearing beside her desk.
Amy squeaked and looked up at the other detective looming over her and then glanced around to see the others all looking her way, including Scully and Hitchcock. Why did everyone always want to know?
"He just asked me how I was." She answered quietly.
"Boring." Jake said loudly shaking his head.
"Come on now, Jake, Captain Holt's just showing that he cares." Charles said moving over to join them.
"Nope, not buying it, she's clearly being moved downstairs." Jake said.
"To the basement, so we don't have to see her suits anymore." Gina added earning a wide grin from Jake.
"This is a good suit, it has pockets." Amy said lamely, earning eye rolls from everyone, "and I'm not moving department." she added.
"Guys knock it off, leave Amy be before Captain Holt comes out and tells you all off." Terry ordered from his desk.
"You got it Sarge!" Jake said loudly, spinning around and giving Terry a thumbs up, "Amy we'll get you a leaving card later." He added as she simmered, pouting at him.
The rest of the day was uneventful, with Amy being partnered with Rosa to respond to a report of a B&E, a smashed window, muddy footprints and jewellery all stolen and a bitter suspect already blaming an ex partner. It was once again not the most exciting case, but it was simple and easy, and at least she was paired with someone who wouldn't wind her up as they left the apartment and Amy ran through the notes she had taken from the interview with the victim.
It wasn't until the next day at the morning briefing did her luck finally begin to turn as Captain Holt addressed the room, his stoic form drawing their attention. Even Jake who normally spent the meetings goofing off and distracting Charles or making asinine jokes was silent as he leant forward eager to get the exciting opportunities.
"Peralte, Boyle, I want you both on the Maddison garden case, reports of a stalker harassing and following Deputy Commissioner Lewinksi and their family."
"Stake out." Jake said gleefully, fistbumping Charles before dropping the goofy smile, "thank you sir."
"Sergeant Jeffords, take Diaz and look follow up with the B&E case she and Santiago began investigating yesterday." Captain Holt continued.
Amy's heart fluttered as nerves began to twist into knots in her stomach, not only was she not good enough to be chosen for any undercover work, she now wasn't even good enough to continue investigating a simple theft. She was halfway through coming up with a conversation in her head to have later with Captain Holt when he cleared his throat and regained her attention.
"As you may know there has been an increase in illicit activity lately, rumours of a new gang bringing increased quantities of narcotics into the city. Other precincts have confirmed that territories have shifted as a result. Therefore we here at the nine nine must do our part to investigate this new gang." He announced, his facial expression unreadable as he stood before them all letting the information sink in.
"Detective Santiago, I am placing you in charge of this investigation," he stated.
Amy did her best to contain her emotions, offering him a curt nod and professional short smile as she watched the reserved police captain collect his papers from the podium.
"That is all." He stated with finality.
Amy rose quickly and made her way out of the briefing room and to her desk, and immediately got to work, fired up by the opportunity Holt had granted her following their conversation the previous day. She wouldn't waste it, wouldn't squander it. She obtained every file she could from their own database and the files from all relevant precincts, reading each one thoroughly and making notes to understand any patterns of behaviour that would begin to flesh out the gang.
"Elliot street." She muttered as she stirred the coffee freshly poured from the pot, the wooden stirrer doing a poor job to mix the cream into the dark liquid.
She watched as it turned a pale gold colour and then sniffed it, scrunching her nose up at the bitter scent before carefully slurping up the first sip. Sufficiently recharged she returned to her desk, the steam rising from the mug beside her as she began to put together a plan. It felt strange being in charge of such a large case, with multiple uniformed officers now reporting to her to give her enough support and man power.
They hit the streets, and eventually one after another, Amy sat across from multiple drug dealers caught in possession or even in a couple of cases, openly caught trying to make a sale. She flicked through files, wrote up reports in great detail, making a special note of the areas in particular the arrests were made. Yet nothing came of it, no matter how many arrests were made, no matter how hard she worked, she could find no real leads into the upper echelons of the gang.
Frustration and irritation began to build within her, along with a fear of being seen as a failure, marked by others as not good enough. Worry began to gnaw at her heart that if she didn't bring any concrete results soon then Captain Holt would replace her.
"I just need a win." Amy told Rosa in the corridor seeking comfort from an unlikely source.
"Do you have anything?" The other detective asked.
"I have a mule in holding, interrogation room is being prepped but if they're anything like the rest I won't get a name." Amy whined.
"Give me a turn, I can get him to talk." Rosa said bluntly.
