Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you don’t need me down there?”Amy asks, “Yeah, you’re right. Just be careful, ok? And tell me if you hear anything.” Amy hung up and took a shaky breath.

“Mommy?”

Amy wiped her tears fast, hoping Mac wouldn’t notice.

She puts on her bravest smile, “Hey buddy, what’s up?”

“What’s wrong?”he asked.

“Nothing,”She smiled, “daddy’s just gonna be a little late tonight.”

“That makes you sad?”He asks.

“Yeah, but it’ll be ok.”

“Why can’t daddy come home?”He asks.

Amy doesn’t know how to respond at first, she wants to be honest with him but also doesn’t want to scare him, “because...”She gets on her knees to meet his eyes, “because sometimes the world is unfair. Daddy just needs to take care of some bad guys, do you understand?”

Mac nods.

“Good,”she smiles, “are you hungry?”

Mac nods again.

“Are you ok?”Mac asks.

Amy gives him a sad smile, “yeah baby, I’m ok.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things were fine until bedtime, Mac played with some toys, they watched paw patrol for a couple hours, things were going fine as usual.

“Alright Mac,”Amy announces “bedtime.”

“But where’s daddy?”he asked.

“He’s going to be a little late.”

“But he needs to read me a story,”He says.

“I can do that,”Amy says cheerfully.

“No, I want daddy to,”Mac argues.

She understood why, Jake did the funny voices. Why didn’t anyone like when she did voices? She’s just as funny as Jake right?

“I’m sorry,”She says to him, “but that’s not an option right now. You can either let me read it, or you can go to bed without a story.”

Mac looked up at her with tears coming “can’t I wait?”He asks.

“Sorry,”She shakes her head, “no.”

Mac gives her a worried look, “is daddy ever coming back?”

“Of course he is,”She says. “He’s just late.”

She hoped that was true, more then anything.

He studied her, he stared into her eyes for at least five minutes, she was starting to worry until he finally asked: “Will you read me Harry Potter?”

“Of course,”She sighs with relief, “but first you need to pick up your toys,”She says.

“Ok mommy,”He smiles.

She wished it could always be this easy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After reading to Mac Amy went to bed herself.

“He’ll be ok,“ she said to herself.
“He’ll be ok.”

She tossed and turned.

She checked her phone for the thousandth time, still nothing from Rosa.

He had to be ok, right?

Two hours later...
Still nothing.

What were they doing?

Amy couldn’t do anything...

She hated that she couldn’t do anything.

“Mommy?”

Amy looks up, “Mac, what are you doing out of bed?”She asks.

“Is daddy ok?”

Amy sighs, it was too late to hide the tears dripping from her eyes, “I hope so, baby...”

Mac nods and rushes to her, he gives her a big hug, and they stayed that way for a few hours.

Chapter Text

After a long night Jake finally got home. His arm hurt like crazy, but luckily nothing was broken.

He walked into the bedroom and smiled at the sight of Amy asleep holding Mac in her arms. He climbed into bed with them and kissed Amy’s head.

Amy opened her eyes and smiled, “Jake.”

“Hey Ames.”

“Are you ok?”She blinked looking at his bandages.

“Yeah, minor injury, not a big deal.”

She nodded, “I missed you,”she says.

“I missed you too,”He smiles.

“Daddy?”he heard Mac say as he sat up, eyes barley open.

“I’m here buddy,”he says, Jake walks to the other side of the bed to Mac. “Let’s get you back to your own bed, ok?”

Mac nods and wrapped his arms around his father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Daddy?”Mac asked as Jake tucked him into his own bed.

“What’s up buddy?”

“Do you have to go in the morning?”he asks.

Jake shakes his head, “Nope, going to be staying here with you,”He explains, “we’re going to have so much fun.”

Mac smiled but then frowned again, “mommy’s sad,”He says.

“She’ll feel better soon,”Jake explains kissing macs head, “just get some sleep, ok?”

To be honest, he probably needed it more then mac did. He could’ve asked Amy to put Mac back in bed, or he could’ve left him where he was. But if he were honest, he just wanted an excuse to hold him.

“Daddy?”Mac asks.

“Yeah?”

“You won’t leave, right?”

He wasn’t sure what he meant. Leave the room? Leave him to go to work? Or just...leave. He didn’t have the energy to try and figure it out, he simply answered: “I’m here buddy, I’m not going anywhere.”

This seemed to be a satisfying answer because Mac rested his head and closed his eyes.

Jake smiled,

Everything was ok now.

He went back to bed and held onto Amy lovingly.

Everything was ok now.

Chapter Text

While Jake was recovering, he and Mac spent a few days together.

Amy noticed that ever since they had a kid, Jake has been taking better care of himself, she was surprised but she probably shouldn’t have been. Jake takes responsibility seriously...at least when he feels it’s important.

When it comes to work Jake is usually very focused, too focused. He’d often works late, even if he’s sick or injured.

But Mac kinda changed that.
Ever since they had a kid, his priorities had changed.

Now he was more concerned about Mac having the father he never did, and knowing that he is loved and cared for.

It was honestly very sweet.

When Amy came back home Mac ran to her and gave her a hug, and tell her about the great day he had with Jake.

She honestly felt a little jealous.

“Did you have a good day?”She asked him.

“Yup, and we went to the park, had lunch, and watched zootopia.”

“Sounds very productive,”She says.

“It was, now I’m playing with LEGO’s, wanna see what I made?”He asks.

“Of course, but first I’d like to say hi to your dad,”She smiles looking at Jake who was cooking dinner.

“I took care of him all day for you mommy.”He smiles proudly.

“Thank you,”She says, “I’m very proud.”

Mac smiled at her then rushed back to the living room with his lego’s. Amy looks to Jake who’s making the same face she was. He’s so adorable.

Amy sighed happily, she had the cutest kid ever, and the best husband. The life she always dreamed of.

“Hey,”She says to Jake and kisses him.

“Hey Ames,”He said, “I’m making macaroni and cheese for tonight, because it’s easy and I’m exhausted.”

Amy laughed, “Mac wear you out?”

“A little, though I’m not complaining, he’s amazing.”

“Yeah, he is. So, you excited to go back to work?”She asks.

“You have no idea, I mean as fun as it is to stay here with him, I can’t stop thinking about the jenson murder, Charles has been filling me in.”

Amy nodded, “I missed you too, things get really quiet at work without you.”

Jake smiled.

“It’s kinda nice, we get some actual work done,”She jokes.

“Has anyone solved any cases without me there? I don’t think so.”

Amy rolled her eyes and shook her head, then looked to see what Mac was watching, “So is zootopia his favorite movie now?”

“You know, it use to be big hero 6, but I’m convinced he knows every line of zootopia.”

“Guess he’s a movie buff like his dad.”

“Yeah,”He sighs. “I guess so. I’ll set the table,”He says.

Amy calls, “Mac, wash your hands and get ready to eat, buddy.”

“Ok, mommy!”He shouts then rushes to the kitchen to wash his hands.

He’s such an angel, it’s like he can do no wrong.

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The next day Jake decided it would be best for him to drop Mac off at daycare, it was finally time to get back to work, and he was excited, even if Mac wasn’t. The poor kid seemed bummed all day.

“Alright McClain,”Jake says, “here we go,”Jake attempt to let go of Mac but he wrapped his tiny arms around Jakes neck.

“No daddy, please don’t leave me.”

Well, that was new. Mac was usually fine, even on his first day when Amy freaked out over letting the daycare workers watch him. She cried, Mac was the one who had to comfort her.

Jake pulled Mac off him so they can communicate face to face, he was all red, eyes watering, “Hey, it’s ok,”He says pulling Mac into a hug, holding Mac tight, “what’s the matter bud? What’s going on?”

“Don’t leave”Mac cried again as he rubs his face on Jakes shirt.

Jake sets him on the bench outside of the daycare, “Alright, what’s wrong? Talk to me, bud. Are you sick?”

Mac nodded, “Please, can we go home? Please?”tears dropped down his face and he hugged his father yet again, refusing to let go of Him.

No one in their right mind would leave their kid like this, right? Jake picked him back up and let Mac cry into his shirt.

“Ok, ok buddy, calm down. We can go home,”Jake attempted to move the backpack to his other hand while holding Mac, he grabbed his phone and called Captain Holt. “Hey, I won’t be coming into work today... it’s Mac. He should be fine but I think I should stay home with him just in case.”

“Oh my, is he sick?”

“Maybe, it’s probably just a cold or something, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Alright, do what you have to.”

“Thanks, dad.”

He hung up.

Mac wined “Daddy?”

“It’s ok now, we’re going home, buddy. I’m here.”