Blindspot︱𝐉𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐀

13│AND THE WINNER IS

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"Zapata."

"Peralta," Natasha said as she and Jake stood face to face, the bullpen watching them intently.

"The bet ends today," Jake reminded her, "Are you ready?"

"I was born ready," Natasha replied coolly.

"To lose?" Jake added before she could say anything else, "The whole question was, 'are you ready to lose?' And you said you were born that way."

Natasha scoffed as she gave Jake a bored look. "Twist my words all you want, if it'll make you feel better about losing. I'm winning this bet."

Jake shook his head. "No."

Before either of them could continue their banter Hitchcock cut in. "What bet? What are you guys talking about?"

"Seriously?" Terry scoffed as he looked at him in disbelief, "The bet? They've been keeping score all year. It comes up all the time. What are you doing all day?"

"Nothing," Hitchcock shrugged before he smiled, "Why, you wanna hang out?"

"How have you not been fired yet?" Natasha furrowed her brows as she looked to Terry for an explanation, he just shrugged wondering the same thing himself.

"A year ago today, Zapata and I made a bet to prove who's a better Detective," Jake explained as he walked Hitchcock through how the bet came to be.

"Whoever makes more felony arrests wins," Natasha added as she and Jake had a staredown, "And the score is all tied up."

"But not for long," Jake smirked confidently, "For in eight hours, I will win the bet and take Zapata on the worst date in the history of the world."

"Attention," Raymond called as he joined the squad in the bullpen, "After today's shift, I'd like everyone to join me at the bar for drinks in honor of Detective Boyle and his Medal of Valor."

"Oh, my God, is peanut butter gonna be there?" Gina gasped, "That horse is a damn hero."

"Peanut butter will not be joining us," Charles huffed at the mention of the horse he had nightmares about.

"He's being feted by the United Nations," Raymond explained, "As you were."

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Natasha strolled into the bullpen and smirked at the scoreboard, they'd placed it right by Terry's desk in the days leading up to the end of the bet for everyone to see. And it currently had the number 84 under her name, showing that she'd broken the tie. She paused and did a double-take when she noticed that while her 84 remained, Jake's 83 was gone.

He's trying to scare me, Natasha thought to herself with a scoff.

Jake strolled over to her with a smirk as he leaned against the scoreboard. "Are you mentally preparing for our date, Zapata? Because I ran a prostitution sting through vice and arrested 30 guys for soliciting."

"That's not a felony," Amy interrupted.

"It is when it's your second offense, which is the case for ten of these gentlemen," Jake corrected, "Anyhoo, ten more for Peralta. Accept your fate. There's only two minutes left and I have a ten-point lead."

"Oh no," Natasha droned dryly which had him stopping in his proud rant.

"You don't seem worried. Why aren't you worried?" Jake watched her with panicked eyes as she didn't even bat an eyelash at his ten-point lead.