The door to the evidence lockup swung open, revealing an anxious Rosa. “Jake, I need to talk to you about something before Gina gets here… what are you doing?”
Jake stopped disassembling the confetti cannons and turned to face the confused Rosa, wiping non-existent sweat from his brow in a vain attempt at looking tough. “Well, I was preparing for Gina and her baby’s big entrance, but Terry says you can’t shoot confetti at an infant. What kind of rule is that?” He shrugged. “I’m guessing I’m gonna have to get rid of the sparklers, too, huh?”
“Probably,” Rosa agreed. “Look, Jake, you had such great advice when it came to my parents…”
“Well, yeah,” Jake agreed, adopting a dramatic tone. “I guess when you speak from the heart… dammit, I got confetti in my Lucky Charms.”
“Jake,” Rosa began again, unamused. “I still haven’t told Gina that I’m bi.”
“Really? That’s what’s got you worried?” he asked in disbelief. “It’s Gina, she’ll be totally cool with it.”
“Are you sure?” Rosa narrowed her eyes. “I mean, I’m not saying she won’t accept it, but… you know, sometimes people don’t like change.”
“You haven’t changed,” Jake reminded her. “You’re the same as you’ve always been. Gina will get that. Besides, she’s got a baby now. She’s got more important things to worry about.”
“Guess so,” Rosa agreed hesitantly. “Thanks, man.” She turned to walk out.
“Hey, Rosa?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I aciddentally superglued my hands together.”
“What the hell were you using-”
“She’s here, she’s here!” Boyle squealed, practically skipping around the room. “I’ve missed my sister so much!”
“In the bathroom checking out the weird pimple on his butt. He says if he’s not out in ten minutes, he needs one of us to go in and pop it for him,” Hitchcock answered calmly.
“Nose goes,” Jake announced, frantically slamming his index finger against his nose.
“Nobody’s gonna be popping Scully’s ass zit,” Terry informed the group loudly, glaring at Hitchcock.
“Okay, okay, focus, people, focus!” Amy snapped. “It’s just like we rehearsed. When the captain gives us the word that Gina is in the elevator…”
Ding.
The elevator opened, revealing Gina in all her usual splendor, her baby girl balanced on her hip. “Greetings, peasants,” she announced, boldly strutting out. If it wasn’t for the drooling infant, it would have seemed as if nothing had changed. “I have arrived in order to bless you both with my presence and that of my spawn.”
“I apologize for not signaling, Santiago.” Captain Holt emerged from behind Gina. “But Peralta changed the code word so many times I’m afraid I lost count.”
“Sorry, Babe,” Jake muttered, watching his irritated fiancée with wide, guilty eyes.
“It’s great to see you, Gina,” Terry cut in, making his way over to the woman and her child. “You look great.”
Gina chuckled. “As do you, Terrence, as do you.” She turned to address the crowd once more. “I know my maternal glow may frighten some, but don’t be afraid. Come, cradle my child if you wish, but please wash your hands if you’re going to touch her.” She protectively hugged her child closer. “And Hitchcock, you and Scully are required to stay at least ten feet away at all times.”
“Can I hold her?”
The question shocked everyone in the room into silence, all except for a giggling baby girl who was reaching out towards the cuff of the expectant detective’s leather jacket.
“Oh, of course,” Gina replied after a moment, tenderly passing the baby into Rosa’s arms. “Now, make sure you keep her head elevated- yeah, just like that.” Gina smirked down at the little girl’s round face. “She loves her Auntie Rosa, doesn’t she?”
Rosa smiled as she became more comfortable with the action. “Huh. This is what you’ve been missing out on work to do?”
Gina sighed. “Well, there’s something she does that reminds me a whole lot of this precinct.”
“What’s that?” Rosa asked, genuinely curious, before wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Gross.” She held the baby out in front of her right as it began to bawl.
Gina took her back. “Yep, her little poops smell just like Scully’s feet,” she announced. “I’ve been trying to train her to warn me by chanting ancient witches’ spells right before she takes a dump, but she hasn’t really caught on.” She patted her daughter’s back, trying to soothe her. “Captain, can we discuss what happens when I get back in, say, five minutes? I need to change this one’s diaper.” She didn’t wait for Holt’s approval before casting her gaze to Amy. “Hey, Ames, you wanna come give me a hand?”
Amy smiled sweetly and placed a hand over her heart, truly touched. “You want my help with your baby?” she asked earnestly.
“Yeah, I think I forgot a diaper, and that jacket looks close enough to one.”
“Well, Gina, we’re pleased to see you in good health,” Captain Holt began, sitting across from his secretary at his desk.
“Very conversational of you, Captain,” Gina noted. “Has Jake been teaching you small talk while I’ve been gone?”
“Yes, much to my dismay,” he answered. “But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask a few more questions.”
“Ask away, for I am a fountain of knowledge,” Gina said with a flourish of her hand. The baby made a farting noise.
“How’s this small human’s father, who, if I recall correctly, is also a cousin of Boyle’s?” The captain inquired, eyebrows raised.
“We actually split up,” Gina informed him, waving it off. “We weren’t in sync.”
“I see,” he responded, puzzled. “And he’s still involved with the child?”
“Yes,” Gina answered. “We simply won’t be producing any more offspring. It’s probably for the best, too. Any more and they might try to assassinate her as the one true heir.” She hugged her baby protectively, as if this was a very real and dangerous threat.
“I see,” Holt repeated, unable to read Gina’s expression.
There was a knock on the door before Charles cracked it open. “Captain, Scully’s trapped in the toilet again. Sarge says he can’t get him out. Should we call plumbing?”
Holt sighed, rubbing his temples in exasperation. “Excuse me,” he told Gina, standing up and walking briskly out into the bullpen. “Peralta, put the power drill down!”
Boyle’ feet stayed planted just inside the office, though. “I don’t mean to pry,” he began, tone suggesting that he very much meant to pry. “But I heard you split up with Milton. How’re you holding up?”
“None of your business, Charles.”
“It’s very much my business. You’re my sister and he’s both my cousin and the father of your child.”
Gina groaned. “You have got to stop saying stuff like that, Boyle,” she chided.
“Answer the question,” he pressed.
“I’m fine,” Gina answered, waving him off. “Better than fine, actually. I have brought into this world a child free of the constraints of a patriarchy ridden society.”
“Oh,” Boyle exclaimed softly. “Cool.” He looked out the window into the bullpen, looking directly at Rosa’s desk. “So, did Rosa tell you?” he asked, lifting his eyebrows.
“That she broke up with Pimento?” Gina inquired. “Oh, I saw that coming way before it happened. They were like a flame: the burned bright while they lasted, but eventually they burned out.”
“Okay…” Boyle frowned. “Not what I meant, though. You know, how she came out as bi?”
Gina smiled knowingly. “Yeah, I figured.”
“Really?”
She waved vaguely. “There were… signs.”
“Really?” Boyle repeated, still confused.
“Well, only a trained eye such as mine could pick up on them,” she explained mysteriously.
Boyle grinned. “Is she gonna introduce you guys?” he asked in excitement.
“What are you talking about?”
From behind Boyle, Gina caught of a beautiful woman marching through the bullpen, past a group of uniformed officers, right up to Rosa’s desk, and…
“Oh.” Finals voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. Her lips remained parted as she stared in shock at the gorgeous woman who was kissing Rosa in front of everyone, not giving a damn who was watching.
“Yeah,” Boyle said, awkwardly shoving his hands in his pockets. “They do that a lot.”
Gina cleared her throat. “Charles, it’s been a while since I fed her,” she informed him, hoisting her baby up. “Mind giving me some privacy?”
“Oh, of course! Hey, how’s the breastfeeding been going? Does it hurt? Genevieve and I have all these great, informative books from back when we were trying to inseminate-”
Gina groaned loudly. “How is it that you’re making the miracle of life repulsive?” She questioned incredulously. “Get out!”
He obliged, scurrying away, shouting something about a plunger and and Scully’s buttocks as he went, leaving Gina to state out into the bullpen.
Gina placed her daughter on Holt’s desk, one hand on her back to steady her. She grabbed the pride flag from Holt’s pencil cup and began chewing on the end, but Gina was too preoccupied to care.
She’d run out of chances. She had a baby now, and Rosa, finally comfortable in her identity, had found a beautiful girlfriend… they both had very different needs in life right now. And Gina was happy for her. She wanted everything to go perfectly for Rosa Diaz, to never see her go through another heartbreak again. And yet…
“Hey,” she whispered, taking her daughter’s hand. “You see her? You see your Auntie Rosa?” She pointed the baby’s chubby finger at the incredible, brave detective. “That’s the love of my life. It took me way too long to realize it, but… that’s my girl.”
The baby couldn’t possibly have understood what her mother had just said, but she turned to look at the other woman, now leaning against Rosa’s desk and speaking softly. Whatever she was saying, it was lighting Rosa’s face up. Gina used to be the one that did that. “And that… that’s hergirl.”
not to be dramatic but this post tore my heart out of my chest and ran it over with a pickup truck
