'Ames, we are a family'

  This is something a bit different for my birthday week, as it’s a post season seven fanfiction about the Michael Schur/Dan Goor comedy ‘Brooklyn Nine Nine’ (Goor and Schur sitcoms are some of my very favourite shows.) It does include spoilers for the seventh season of ‘B99’, as it mainly focuses on the home life of the show’s main couple, Amy (portrayed by the brilliant Melissa Fumero) and Jake (portrayed by one of the loveliest men ever with the most beautiful heart eyes, Andy Samberg.) On top of that, he’s also an insanely talented actor who can make you laugh, break your heart and restore your faith in love and humanity in a single scene. Jake and Amy or Peraltiago are probably one of the healthiest and most supportive and loving couples on TV. As you’ve probably guessed, they’re my favourite TV couple, and I love that they have a baby now as they’re 100% soulmates and a total power couple while also being cute together. I’m so grateful for them, even if it’s super sad whenever Jake gets hurt in the show and it makes me a bit depressed to know that I’ll never have a relationship even half as good as Peraltiago or be as awesome as Jake or as tough, strong and badass as Amy, especially as it’s also unfair how absolutely gorgeous she is and how flawless they are. They really are fantastic. I made this collage to show how they can get through anything together and how everything just brings them closer together and the quote’s from ‘Days in the sun’ from ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Photo credit to smortandy, rosascenes and mrsamysantiago from Instagram. Hope you enjoy. 😊

(July 2021) Amy stared at the pregnancy test again, just to be sure. She’d already taken a few tests, but in true Amy fashion, efficiency was incredibly important to her. It was unmistakably positive and after reflecting for a minute or so and smiling as she looked at the test again, she realised that positive summed up how she felt about it. After all they’d been through with trying to conceive the first time around, she almost couldn’t believe they were actually already having another baby, but that only made her feel happier about it. The fact that they’d had to try for so long before had convinced her that they’d never be able to conceive easily or would have to use fertility treatments. As she threw on one of Jake’s old hoodies that she probably wore more often than he did, she put a hand on her still flat stomach and remembered all the love she’d felt for Mac as soon as she found out she was pregnant with him and how she’d fallen even more in love with him with each ultrasound and then again when they actually met and held him for the first time, as he was the best and most precious thing in the world to them. She then felt very excited to introduce their adorable son to his sister or brother in nine months or so, if everything went ok. Speaking of which, she could hear her two favourite guys playing together when she came out of the bathroom, which made her heart so happy and when she actually saw them together it was so sweet and made her heart very full. This combined with the sight of Mac wearing a new ‘I love my mama so much’ t-shirt that Jake had just bought him and the thought of being a mama of two next year made it even cuter and made her heart almost burst. Mac really was their son, in every sense, as his beautiful brown eyes were so much like her own yet his precious curls and kind, cheeky smiles made him almost the spitting image of his Dad. They were playing with some of Nikolaj’s old toys, but some had even come full circle, as her super caring husband had got some of them for Nikolaj long before becoming parents themselves. 

           It was a Sunday and the end of a great long weekend, where Jake had cooked some terrific meals for her. He’d come so far from learning to boil an egg and since learning they were going to be parents, he’d become something of a kitchen genius and frequently tried to whip up nice meals for her. He was an amazing Dad too, of course and their son adored his ‘Dada’. In fact, whenever Mac was upset, Jake could immediately make him smile. Mac’s totally the apple of Amy’s eye too, no matter how hard and tiring it was to be a working mommy, and believe me, she was tired, the most exhausted she’d ever felt. She knew she wouldn’t have it any other way, though, as the fact that she and Jake had each other and now their precious baby made her feel so lucky and happy. In fact, Mac was so perfect in her eyes, she wondered if it was even possible to love another baby that much. However, after looking at her favourite photo of all three of them together the day Mac was born, she noticed the pure love and joy in Jake’s happy heart eyes , which she saw again when he gave her those signature beautiful heart eyes that night when she told him she was pregnant. She then knew that when it came to having another little one, pretty much all she felt was happiness and gratitude. They then shared a sweet kiss and a big, happy hug, which almost lifted Amy’s feet off the ground and felt very different to the bittersweet, sometimes even slightly tearful ones, of their ‘trying’ days. 

(September 2021)- It always made Amy happy to see Mac’s little face light up at the sight of his Auntie ‘RoRo’, which it did when she and the rest of the squad came round for his first birthday. Rosa was possibly his favourite person after his parents, as despite never showing much interest in kids, Rosa absolutely adored Mac, in her own Rosa way, and couldn’t do enough for him. In fact, she’d been enamoured with him since the day she’d seen him being born. However, Jake was always quick to reassure Amy that she was definitely the best mom ever and Mac's fave person (as he put it), which meant the world to her, as even after being a mama for a whole year, it still delighted her that they really were ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ after wanting and waiting for it for so long. In fact, the fact that Jake and Amy said ‘I love you’ to each other and to Mac all the time, seemed to be having an influence on Mac’s early speech, as he tried to say ‘I love you’ to them both on a regular basis. Amy remembered this feeling of love one night a few weeks later, when Mac fell asleep on her knee and made the sweetest little snuffle sounds as he snored, which, even though he was no longer a tiny baby, still reminded her of the first night they brought him home from the hospital (well, he’d always be their baby, after all).She then saw that he’d moved and was near her heart and then close to his future baby brother or sister, which almost made her emotional, as she knew their son would be the cutest, best big brother ever and would be just as excited about the new baby as they were. That evening was particularly special to her, as it was then that she felt a flutter from their unborn baby’s first gentle kick. She quickly alerted Jake to this and moved his hand to her stomach so he could feel the kicks and adorably tell the baby how much he already loved them and how beautiful and brilliant their mama was, as well as getting in a quick ‘Die Hard’ reference, just like he’d done when she was expecting Mac. During the first few months of her pregnancy, their home had been the only place she hadn’t had to explain why she’d stuck to soft drinks at celebrations like Holt and Kevin’s vow renewal or cover up the beginnings of the world’s cutest baby bump with large jackets or by carrying boxes, especially because Jake thought she looked gorgeous pregnant, anyway. At the time of Mac’s first birthday, though, they hadn’t yet told the squad about her pregnancy, as they wanted it to be Mac’s day, but they’d planned to tell them soon, as it’d been a struggle not to tell them the second they found out. During his first birthday, though, Amy truly felt how much their son was loved, as even Rosa barely hid a smile as she played with him and gave him his presents, especially when he smiled and tried to say ‘roro’. The presents were surprisingly kid friendly too, as they’d started to worry that she might give him a mini axe or something. Mac’s unofficial but doting grandparents, Holt and Kevin popped round to spoil Mac too, as they’d not all met up like this since their vow renewal in August. Mac was always happy to see his Granddads, but he absolutely adored Cheddar, or ‘fluff pup’ as he now called him, after hearing everyone call Cheddar a ‘fluffy boy’. Jake often took photos and videos of Mac and Cheddar (or Mac and Cheese, as he called them), so that Amy could witness the cuteness without the risk of an allergic reaction, which always warmed her heart. Someone else who wouldn’t want to miss out on spoiling little Mac was his Uncle Chee Chee (yes, Charles had got his wish and was now Mac's Uncle Chee Chee and godfather.) Mac also spent some of the day with Iggy, Ava and the twins while he played with his new toys from Jake’s mom and the teddy bears from Amy’s brothers. Even though he played with the other kids a bit, he mainly played with his mommy and daddy, which was super adorable, as he was still a bit unsure about hanging out with just the older kids, even though he wouldn’t be the youngest for much longer. That evening, as his parents leant in so they could both give Mac’s precious, chubby cheeks loads of birthday kisses at the same time and play with his adorable little nose, Amy felt that he really was the best, the cutest and just the greatest kid ever (tied with the baby they’d so far only seen in their now framed ultrasounds and couldn’t wait to meet next year.) Amy felt overcome with love as she hugged her adorable son tighter and rested her head on Jake’s shoulder, all while thinking about how amazing it was when they heard their unborn baby’s heartbeat for the first time at a recent appointment and how incredible and special it had been to hear it so clearly. The thought already made her own heart so full and this combined with the sight of Jake making their perfect little boy explode into little belly laughs that sounded so much like Jake’s own laugh, truly made the day so special for her. She knew that Jake was thinking the same thing as they smiled at each other and her concealed baby bump, especially when he kissed her cheek and sweetly touched her stomach in the most wholesome, caring way, while she held his other hand and snuggled into his hood.