Chapter Text
After having changed into some more casual clothes after work, Amy got in her car and drove across town to her parents’ house. The journey took an hour fighting through rush hour traffic, but she enjoyed sitting in her car, humming along to music.
With Jake in prison, Amy was very used to quiet. The apartment was silent everyday when she came home from work, her desk had no eager chatter on the other side of it; her whole world was quiet, without the incessant talking of her lovably annoying boyfriend. Amy had never yearned to be overwhelmed with noise before.
She tried to fill the void as best she could: leaving the TV on a random channel while she pottered around the apartment, listening to audiobooks and podcasts and music while she walked or worked, inviting her friends over as often as she could. But then, when her friends left, or the music was turned off, things felt even quieter and lonelier than they had before.
Amy was a good daughter. She called her mother every week, and visited as often as she could. She loved her parents, of course she did, but deep beneath the surface, resentment lay. The constant pressures during her childhood to be perfect; the constant comparisons to her siblings - it all got to her. Okay, so maybe she could visit more often than she did, but she didn’t particularly have the desire to increase their frequency. However, tonight, she was very grateful for the invitation to dinner, as even being grilled by her parents was nicer than sitting alone in an empty, silent apartment with one
glass of wine too many.
When she eventually arrived, her mother greeted her at the door.
“Come in, darling, come in,” she said, hugging her.
“Thanks for inviting me over, Mom.”
“We have a very special surprise for you.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“It’s a surprise, silly! You have to wait to find out.”
“Okay,” Amy shrugged, taking her shoes off.
“Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. Your father is in the living room, go and sit with him.”
Obeying, Amy went and sat on the couch beside her dad, hugging him.
“How are you doing, Tiger?” he asked.
“I’m okay. Just missing Jake and Rosa, and I’ve been at work a lot trying to crack the case.”
“Of course, of course. How’s everything else? How’s Kylie? We haven’t seen her in a long time.”
“Kylie’s good, yeah. We’ve been going to trivia every week.”
“Ah, good. You’ve been winning, hm?”
“Of course. I learnt from the best, Dad. Anyway, how have things been with you?”
“Things have been pretty good. I’ve been golfing a lot, and me and your brother David have been doing this puzzle challenge together.”
Amy half-listened as her father launched into a long speech about David, nodding and humming appropriately.
The doorbell rang a few minutes later, and Camilla eagerly came into the hallway.
“Amy, the surprise is here!” she said.
Curious, Amy watched as the door opened, and an uncomfortably familiar man stepped in.
“Hey Amy. Surprise!” he said, holding out a bunch of flowers.
“Mom, what the hell? Your surprise is Teddy? My ex-boyfriend Teddy?” she asked incredulously, eyes wide.
“Well, you two were such a good couple. I always liked him - much more than Jake. And what with him in prison for the next fifteen years, I thought it would be nice for the two of you to…reconnect.”
“Mom, what the fuck? You thought I’d want to cheat on Jake with my dickhead ex-boyfriend?”
“Do not speak to your mother like that, Amy,” her dad said harshly.
“I don’t give a fuck! You brought my ex-boyfriend to dinner to try and persuade me to get back with him? Unbelievable! God, I am fucking sick of you two! You could at least try and be supportive of me while I’m going through an unimaginably tough time, with my boyfriend framed and locked away from me. I’m not even surprised,” she said bitterly.
“We are supporting you!” Camilla protested.
“I’m leaving. You can have dinner with Teddy alone, since you love him sooo much.”
Slipping her shoes back on, Teddy thrust the flowers at her. Taking them from him, Amy threw them at her mother, and then slammed the front door behind her.
Getting into her car, Amy drove away, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe her parents, orchestrating a reunion with her son of a bitch ex while the love of her life was locked away from her. She sniffed fiercely, trying to stem the flow, as the road ahead of her became a blur of headlights.
Maybe too much wine and a silent apartment was better than dinner with her parents after all.
**
Once she got home, Amy got changed into a pair of sweatpants and one of Jake’s NYPD t-shirts. Crawling into bed, she cried into her pillow, the scent of Jake still lingering on the bed sheets. She missed him so immensely that she’d started carrying his cologne around with her in his purse, so she could smell his scent when the separation felt especially too much.
Amy couldn’t be alone right now. She needed to be with someone, anyone. Her first thought was Rosa, and her crying intensified when she was hit with a longing for her best friend as well as her boyfriend. Gina, as Rosa’s girlfriend, was the next best choice. She knew Gina would probably make fun of her, but she was so desperate that she’d happily hang out with even Hitchcock.
Amy: please can you come over? I really need someone
Gina: on my way
Grateful, Amy lay in bed crying for a few more minutes before getting out of bed and washing her face. It was red and puffy, and the cold water made minimal difference. Giving up, she went and sat on the couch, wrapping herself in a blanket.
Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Opening it, Gina greeted her, holding a pizza box and a bottle of wine.
“I’m surprised you came,” Amy said.
“Of course I did,” she replied, entering. “I know I’m usually a bitch, but this is a hard time for everyone right now. Let’s sit down and talk.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“Don’t sweat it, girl.”
Sitting down on the couch, they dug into the pizza and poured big glasses of wine.
“You know, I don’t think there's been a single day since Jake and Rosa have been gone that I haven’t had a drink. Haven’t had three drinks.”
“Damn, girl. You’re really not doing alright, huh?”
Amy shook her head, taking a thick gulp of red wine.
“Okay, well, go ahead and talk.”
“I just…I miss him so much. It feels like my heart is broken without him. I’m such an anxious and high strung person, and I need someone like Jake to balance me out and make me okay. Without him, I’m just a wreck. I miss touching him so much. I miss him holding me.”
“I feel you on that one,” Gina agreed. “I miss cuddles. And just everything. Ugh. I think this is the longest I’ve been celibate my entire adult life. But it’s not even that that I miss the most. I miss hanging out with someone all the time, and the talks we’d have, and how Rosa just…gets me. I can’t even touch her at all. We’re separated by a stupid plastic screen when I visit. And her voice doesn’t sound the same over the stupid phone things. I just miss everything about her, so much.”
“I’m so glad that I at least get to hug Jake twice every visit. But still, it’s far from the same.”
“And I feel so…helpless. I trust the rest of the squad with my life, but I can’t work Rosa’s case. I can’t help get her out of there. I’m entirely at the mercy of other people, as is she. I didn’t think I was capable of loving someone this much, let alone missing someone this much. This sounds very dramatic but I’m being totally serious when I say that I literally feel like I’m dying without her here with me.”
“I feel the same,” Amy said, nodding. “It’s just…so brutal. And no one has done anything wrong except Hawkins and her cronies. Why do we all deserve to suffer?”
“We don’t,” Gina said, taking her hand and squeezing it. “We don’t, and Jake and Rosa don’t. We just have to hope that soon, they’ll be home with us. Hawkins will get what’s coming to her.”
“What if she doesn’t?” Amy whispered, voice hoarse.
“She will, Ames, I promise you. I promise she will. Even if that’s me murdering the bitch myself.”
“Thanks for being here for me, Gina. I really needed this.”
“I needed it too. Do you want me to stay over tonight?”
“If you’re sure you don’t mind, I’d love that. I’ve been so lonely.”
“Of course I don’t mind. I’ve been so lonely too.”