Blindspot︱𝐉𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐀

28│GOODBYE AND HELLO

"Why are you doing this?" Natasha managed to force out as she turned to him with hurt clear as day on her face.

She had no idea why he hadn't told her about this before. Af if dealing with a breakup and weird feelings for her co-worker weren't enough now the closest thing she had to a father was leaving.

"What the hell?"

"I want to say it has been a pleasure to have worked alongside all of you for the past 21 1/2 months. I'm sorry for getting so emotional."

"A pretty consistent tone, actually," Jake commented quietly as he tried to process everything he'd heard in the last half-hour.

"These have been the..." Raymond's voice broke off as his eyes turned glassy before he smiled earnestly at the 99, "These have been the best years of my career."

"Oh, no," Jake frowned as he gulped, "This is new."

"And I know that every one of you gave me everything you had, and I will never forget it."

"Go back to being robot captain," Jake begged as he tried not to get too emotional.

Raymond laughed fondly at the memory of his first day. "Meep-morp. Zeet. Dismissed."

With that, he made his way to the elevator with his head held high.

"Sir!" Gina called after him as she slammed her employee ID badge on her desk, "I'm coming with you."

He nodded. "Thank you, Gina."

"I'm also coming," Scully decided.

Raymond shook his head. "Not necessary."

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"Hey," Jake called softly as he walked into the evidence locker.

Natasha looked up and managed a small smile. "Hey."

"Thought I might find you in here."

"I just needed somewhere to think and calm down before I shot someone," She explained with a sigh.

He nodded as his eyes scanned across her face with worry. "So how are you holding up?"

"I don't know," She shrugged, "I'm still in shock. You?"

"Um, basically handling it the way I dealt with my dad leaving, just repressing the hell out of it," He nodded with a deep sigh before he looked into her eyes, "So a lot of change around here, huh?"

"Mhm," She nodded absentmindedly as the two seemingly got lost in each other's eyes. She finally opened her mouth to say something after a beat of silence, "Jake-"

He cut her off, cupping her face gently in both his hands and pulling her closer before bringing his lips down to brush against hers. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck as she deepened the kiss.

They finally pulled away from each other with a breathless gasp as they stared at each other in stunned silence.

"Hey, Jake, the new captain's here!" Charles' voice cut them off before they could say anything.

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"Yeah, I'm just gonna make some copies in here," Jake called loudly as he joined Natasha in the copy room, "Perfect cover. Nailed it. So apparently, the new captain survived and his heart attack –not the craziest thing that happened at the precinct today."

She furrowed her brows and tilted her head questioningly as she shuffled through the papers she'd printed.

"We kissed," He reminded her quietly with a grin, "Like, three hours ago."