Work Text:
Jake parked his car messily, throwing the keys on the dash dejectedly with a sigh. Terry had found out of his master plan to pass his case off to Hitchcock and Scully and he was pissed. Majorly pissed.
He’d ordered Jake back to the precinct with a promise of “I’ll deal with you once I sort out them”. What ‘Deal with you’ meant, Jake didn’t want to know. He certainly wasn’t looking forward to finding out.
He stared out at the car park blankly, dreading getting out of the car. It was pretty much the same as it always was, minus the marked car in the middle. There was something about it that didn’t sit quite right with him. No one parks in the middle of the car park, in a spot with no form of markings, and even he could park straighter than that. There was clearly something up.
Well, no harm in checking it out. Just in case.
Getting out of his car, Jake began to walk towards it. The sound of muffled pleas for help and panicked sobs coming from the boot filled his ears the closer he got, and alarm bells immediately started going off in his head. Who could possibly be in the boot of a marked police car, and more importantly, why were they in there?
“Help me! Please, get me out!” The voice, now much clearer as he was standing right next to the car, made Jake stop in his tracks. That voice was awfully familiar, too familiar. He knew it anywhere.
No. It couldn’t be her. There was no way it was Amy in that boot. She’s far too claustrophobic to be in there willingly (Not that any sane person would get in a closed car boot willingly) but there was only one other explanation for her being in there, and Jake didn't really want to think about the possibility of that. Oh god.
“Hello?” His voice worked on its own accord, his fist coming down on the hood. Maybe it wasn’t Amy, maybe his mind was just playing tricks on him. Either way, he needed to do something. Fast.
“Jake?” She cried out frantically. Jake’s heart stopped. Oh god. It is her.
His worst nightmare confirmed, his mind immediately went into overdrive, his heart going a thousand miles an hour. “Ames, Amy. What’s going on? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Jake, get me out! Please! I can’t breathe!” Jake swore he could feel tears start to well up in his eyes at the sound of her cries, but he shook them away. There were more important things to be doing.
In the years he’d known her he’d seen and heard her go through many panic attacks, but never had he heard her so scared. “I will. We’re gonna get you out, Amy. Just try and take deep breaths. You’re gonna be alright,” He tried to reassure both her and himself, but it sounded pretty pathetic with his voice shaking as much as it was. “Look, I don’t want to leave you here, but I’m gonna have to go get keys to get you out. I’ll be back as quick as I can”
She didn’t respond, something that gave Jake even more internal anxiety. What if she passed out in there? There can’t be much oxygen in the boot of a car, and with the way she was hyperventilating… oh god.
“I need keys to patrol car 14! It’s an emergency!” Jake yelled as he burst through the doors of the foyer.
“Emergency? What sort of emergency?” One of the uniformed officers asked, somewhat cautiously.
“Detective Santiago’s locked in the boot. I don’t know how she got in there, I don’t know what’s happened to her and I don’t know if she’s hurt. I need to get her out!”
Everyone in the foyer began to panic as they thought of the implications of what he just said. Keys were thrown to Jake and everyone followed him out into the car park.
“Ames, I’m here now. I’m back, and I’ve got keys. We’re getting you out” Jake told her, fighting to keep his voice calm as he put the keys in the lock and frantically turned it, stepping back as it sprung open.
The sight of her curled up in a fetal position, hair tousled and messy, arms red raw with obvious scratch marks covering them and mascara laced tears streaming down her face made his heart break. What’d happened to her?
“Oh god, Ames” He reached into the boot and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to the edge before picking her up and lifting her out, keeping her close to his chest. To hell with professionalism, this was too important.
She continued to wail, burying her head in his jacket as she pushed herself closer to him. “Jake!” She gasped out, clutching at him.
“Shh, shh. Everything’s alright now. You’re okay, baby,” The nickname made her pause for a second, a breath of air filling her lungs properly for the first time in ten minutes. It was a nickname only used when they were comforting each other (Or when they were intimate), and it never failed to make her feel at least a little better, “I’m here now. I’ve got you, you’re safe.” He hushed gently, stroking her hair.
Everything he’d researched about panic attacks, especially those caused by the fear of small spaces, told him that he should put her down, give her the space she needed, but he just couldn’t find it in himself to let her go. He needed to know she was okay, and judging by the way she was clinging to him like he was her lifeline, it didn’t seem like she wanted him to either.
Moving slowly so he wouldn’t drop her, he walked carefully over to the curb and sat them down, shifting her so she was sat fully in his lap. At least here they couldn’t be seen by everyone else.
“I can’t breathe!” She cried, her arms starting to come up to her arms to scratch again as she desperately tried to distract herself from the thoughts plaguing her mind. Safe. In Jake’s arms. Not in there anymore. Stop thinking about it. Out. Out. Out.
Her eyes closed against her will, her fight to keep them open interrupted by the desperate need to blink away the tears in her eyes. In. Dark. Scared. Walls. Dark
“Shh, yes you can. You can breathe, even though right now it doesn’t feel like you can. Come on, inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four. Everything’s alright now, you’re safe” He took breathes with her, gently taking her hands away from her arms and squeezing them in his own.
Her breaths were shaky, but slowly they started to become more regular as she focused on Jake’s whispered reassurances. She was exhausted, the constant trembling of her body mixed with all the crying leaving her practically a dead weight, but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn’t stop.
“Hey Ames, I don’t wanna make you feel worse, but I need you to tell me how you ended up in that boot. Did somehow do something to you? Were you harmed in any way?” Jake braced for the worst, eyeing her skeptically when she shook her head no. Was she lying?
“It was sort of my idea actually”
“What do you mean?” He stared at her, a little dumbfounded at her confession.
“When Rosa told us what she was afraid of I suggested we all face our fears together. I was supposed to stay in there for thirty minutes. I don’t know I ended up there really though. Can’t remember if the car was my idea or theirs, but I ended up in there somehow. My head is sorta foggy.”
Jake immediately saw red. They let her into that boot, they probably encouraged it. How could they do that to her? “Huh,” Jake scoffed angrily, “They let you in there. They both know what that would do to you, well maybe not Gina but Rosa definitely would.” Jake’s voice rose as he continued, anger bubbling inside of him at the thought of Amy being put in danger.
“Calm down,” She laughed slightly at the irony of the situation before continuing, “It was my idea. My idea, okay? I went in there voluntarily. It had nothing to do with them, well, mostly nothing. Please, don’t be mad."
“Fine. I’m still gonna talk to both of them though. You could’ve been seriously hurt, whether that’d be from your panic attack or the lack of oxygen in there. And once you’re calm properly I’m gonna talk to you too. Don’t think just because I love you and I’m worried about you means you’re off the hook”
“M’ love you too” Amy sighed tiredly, choosing to ignore the first part. She leaned more heavily into Jake as her eyes began to drop more.
“No, no,” He nudged her gently with his elbow, “You’re breathing isn’t right yet, and we’re at work. There’s nowhere for you to sleep here”
“Hmm, you’re right. Work time!”
“No, not that either. At least not for another hour. You’re still doing that weird tremor thing you do and I want to get someone upstairs to check you out, just to be safe. Don’t you dare say you’re fine, because we both know you’re not”
Too tired to argue, she nodded and let Jake push her to her feet and begin to lead her towards the door without any complaint. Her chest still felt tight, her body was still shaking and the darkness that came with closing her eyes even for a second reminded her so much of in there that she wanted to start crying all over again.
But she wasn’t in there anymore. She was safe in Jake’s arms, and everything was alright.