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“Jake! What’s he doing now?”Jake sighed as he looked up from his computer to peer through the blinds into Holt’s office. “He’s writing at his desk, just like he was two minutes ago.”“But what kind of writing?” Amy asked from her own desk opposite him. “Is he making notes or is he still doing the crossword?“You know, you could just turn around and look.”“I told you that would be too suspicious,” Amy reminded him, continuing to face forward with perfect posture. “If he sees me staring at him all day, he’ll immediately know I made the crossword.”“You know, I don’t think that would be his first thought,” Jake noted.Amy rolled her eyes and tried to take over surveillance herself, tilting her head to the side as best as she could without moving the rest of her body. Somehow, she managed to catch a glimpse of their captain’s office. “He’s still doing it!” she whispered, excited.Jake only smiled in response and returned to typing on his computer. Amy had been working on the crossword for a month, so he’d heard all about it already. She’d been so fastidious—a word he’d learned when she’d had to discard it from her second draft due to space constraints—in making it that Jake had been surprised she’d actually deemed it ready to present to Holt.But there was only a week until Christmas; it was now or never.Not long after the morning briefing, Amy had approached Holt with the crossword—meticulously (discarded from draft five) printed onto her favorite white card stock—saying it was one she’d stumbled across online and, having found it challenging, thought Holt might fare better.She had not gotten much work done since she’d returned to her desk.“Oh, he’s getting up!” Amy said, hastily opening a file on her desk to look occupied.In a few short strides, Holt reached her desk. “Amy, I think I realized what caused your issue with this crossword,” he stated.Amy’s brows drew close together as she hesitantly looked up at him. “Yes, sir?”He showed her the now partially-filled crossword in his hand. “See here? The clue for 5 across lacks specificity. As it stands, it could reasonably be answered by either ‘duet’ or ‘dyad’, fundamentally changing the answer for 7 down.”“Oh,” Amy replied as her face paled. “I see.”“You shouldn’t feel downcast over your struggle to complete it,” Holt continued, reassuring. “The integrity of this crossword is compromised.”“Thank you, sir,” she said weakly.Holt simply nodded and returned to his office. Once he had shut the door behind him, Amy slowly swivelled to face forwards once again.“Babe?” Jake began, concerned at the dejected expression settling on her face. “Are you okay?”“I made a subpar crossword!”“I’m going to take that as a no.” “You know, it’s not Holt’s birthday for months,” Jake reminded Amy. He was sitting on their couch, channel surfing while Amy scribbled vocabulary in her notebook.“I can’t just give him the next crossword near his birthday. That’ll be too suspicious,” Amy explained. “I’m going to have to give him two, maybe even three, before that so that his gift just blends right in. Now, I need to think of a six-letter word that fits in here.”Catching a glimpse of the empty space, Jake immediately offered, “Yippee.”Amy looked at him pointedly. “There will be no Die Hard clues in this crossword, Jake.”“Then what’s even the point!” It came as no surprise to Jake when, following Amy’s success with her subsequent attempts, she decided to continue crafting puzzles for Holt, regularly making notes on words to be used in future.What was unexpected was the evening when, at the end of a shift, Holt stopped Amy with a puzzle quandary (20 across in crossword number three) of his own.“Kevin bought me this puzzle book recently,” Holt told Amy, showing her the volume.“They make them in books?” Jake wondered aloud, but Amy and Holt didn’t notice.“I confess, some of them have stumped me,” Holt continued. “I thought perhaps you and I could take a look together?”Amy inhaled sharply. “Sir, you want my help?”“I understand if you already had plans,” Holt said, nodding to the coat draped over her forearm.Amy shook her head immediately. “No, of course not. No plans,” she replied, although they had only ten minutes ago made plans with Rosa to join her for drinks at Shaw’s.“Good.” Holt passed Amy the book, which she cradled reverently in both hands. “I’ll meet you in the break room in a few minutes.”“It would be my honor, sir.”With a nod, Holt returned to his office. Amy let her coat fall onto her desk as she stared at the book Holt had entrusted to her.“It would be your honor to spend your evening in the break room?” Jake teased. Having already logged off his computer, he pushed to his feet. “You know Hitchcock and Scully’s butts have been all over that place.”“Left no surface untouched,” Hitchcock piped up from his desk, solemn.“Ew,” Jake grimaced while Amy shuddered.Despite his teasing, Jake wasn’t affronted (14 down, crossword four) by Amy choosing puzzles with Holt over another evening of drinks at Shaw’s. He would’ve been more surprised if she hadn’t jumped at the opportunity.After wishing him goodnight, she raced to the break room to “prepare” while Jake got ready to leave.He was shrugging his jacket on when Holt came back into the bullpen, looking just as stoic as usual. “Captain.”Holt stopped abruptly, eyeing Jake. “Fine,” he said after a long, confusing pause. “You caught me.”Jake blinked. “Uh, what?”“I should have better control of my facial features by now,” Holt replied, mostly to himself. “I suppose one can’t help but smile when one becomes a trickster. Though I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, a single trick does not a Puck make.”“I‘m pretty sure it’s called a hat trick?” Jake frowned, utterly lost.“No, I’m referring to the classic Shakespearean character. Though I would never make so foolish a mix-up as he did,” Holt commented, following it up with a hearty chuckle.Jake attempted to smile, but he still wasn’t following. “Okay…”“I do prefer to save my tricks for the Halloween heist, but there seemed no harm in a puzzle session.”Suddenly, Jake realized, “You knew Amy made the crosswords.”“Of course I knew,” Holt confessed. “No professional crossword master would include quite so many stationery themed clues, not to mention two references to John Phillip Sousa. Though, that is not to their credit,” he added seriously.Jake laughed. “Right. I knew puzzle books weren’t a thing!”“Actually, they’re very common,” Holt stated. “The puzzle book itself is real, I’ve just made a few… modifications.”“What kind of modifications?”“I’ve covered up one letter from each of the puzzles that have supposedly ‘stumped’ me,” Holt explained, using air quotes. “Those missing letters form a code of their own, which must be cracked in order to resolve the rest.”“So, you’ve created a master puzzle that connects all of them?” Jake surmised, struggling to hold back a grin at Holt’s answering nod. Holt’s prank sounded like Amy‘s dream.“Now, this stays between us?” Holt asked, gesturing to the break room.Jake smiled as he glanced through the window to see Amy carefully checking the sharpness of her pencil.“Of course, sir.”“Very good. Goodnight, Peralta.” Holt nodded in dismissal.“Goodnight, Captain.”As Holt turned and left to join Amy, Rosa returned to the bullpen from her locker. “Hey, you guys ready to go?” she asked Jake.“I am,” Jake said. “Amy’s got exciting plans of her own tonight.”Rosa followed Jake’s gaze to look into the break room.As Amy rolled her sleeves to get down to business, she caught their eyes and grinned, mouthing, “Don’t wait up!”