December 25th: Advent Calendar Part Three

Part Three of Seven


SIX: VENDING MACHINE

"Okay, okay," Amanda pushes Carisi away from their kiss after just a moment, not wanting it to get too intense. "Next one."

Carisi takes a look inside box number six. "Now what is this?"

He pulls out a tiny replica of a vending machine – the one they have in their breakroom at work.

"Just a little reminder that the whole squad knows about us now."

"Nah, that can't be."

"Of course it can – remember our fight that day? The day after you made those hot chocolates with snow men marshmallows for Jesse, Kim, and I?"

"Yeah, kinda. Was I loud or something?"

"Let's see you practically shouted 'Heaven forbid our colleagues might think I like your or something' when I asked you to come sit with me. Dead giveaway there, Carisi."

"Are you sure they figured it out?"

"Uh, yeah. Fin talked to me afterwards."

"Hey Amanda, remember what I told you about not taking this job home with you?" Fin says.

"Yeah."

"That includes Carisi."

"What do you mean?" she tries to play it off.

"C'mon now. Only lovers quarrel like that."

"We're not lovers."

"Aren't you? You looked pretty cozy there once the yelling died down."

Amanda remembers Carisi stroking her back, comforting her after she told him that she didn't trust her sister and was uncomfortable letting people in.

"Were you spying on me?"

"It's not like the whole squad couldn't see, Amanda. The breakroom's a public place you know."

She gives him a wry grin. "Keep it on the down low okay?"

"Not that it will do any good, but I won't say anything to anyone around here. You and Carisi just need to watch it – you hear me? You could get in a lot of trouble."

"Yes, Dad."

"So Fin knows?"

"Yup. And I strongly suspect he's not the only one."

"Damn."

SEVEN: ERECTOR SET

Carisi reaches for the box labeled '7' and grins like a fool when he pulls out a miniature erector set box.

It's not just a box labeled "Erector Set" either. Amanda had put little pieces inside of it. "Open it."

"Damn Mandy, I could play with this thing right now."

"Wouldn't you rather play with something else?" There is a devious twinkle in her eye, as she remembers back to their night of jokes.

He gulps, remembering how that night ended too. "Uh yeah."

"Well then . . .?"

Really? Is this really going to happen? With Amanda in his old childhood bedroom? ON HIS OLD CHILDHOOD BED?

He hurriedly moves the calendar box that is between them off of the bed so he can move closer to her. Without even a kiss, a word, anything he opens the coat she's wearing and begins unbuttoning her blouse. And then he unhooks the front clasp of her bra. She gasps softly when it's released, anticipating his next move.

And he does not disappoint. His hand moves over one of her now-exposed breasts and before she can even sigh he's caught her lips in a fiery kiss. It turns into a moan. He pushes her back onto the bed as she reaches for his dress shirt, starting to unbutton it as well.

"Damn, your T-shirt was a lot easier," she says to him, breaking off the kiss so she can focus on the buttons.

"Yeah, but this way we can both kinda keep our clothes on. You know, just in case," he ticks his head back towards the door.

He's right, there's not enough privacy for them to be bare chested, skin to skin, like they had been that night. She undoes the final button at the bottom of his shirt . . . the one precariously close to . . .

She stops herself from going there. That's definitely not what this is about tonight. But she does allow herself to run her fingertips up from his tummy to his partially exposed chest, savoring every piece of flesh that she comes into contact with.

He follows by putting a hand on her chest, his fingers moving over and tweaking one of the nipples that has gone taut just from the sight of his chest laid bare. Then he moves over to the other one, leaving the first one yearning in agony at the absence of his touch.

She moans and her fingernails dig into his chest.

"God, I love you," he breathes and drops his lips to the neglected nipple, giving it a little tug with his teeth, his fingers never letting go of the other one as they pull on it as well.

"Oh god." She arches beneath him, wanting to feel him – to feel his excitement. But she can't. He's kept his distance there, lest they go further than he intends to once again. He's learned his lesson.

They hear a bump followed by the pitter-patter of little feet running up the stairs.

"Oh no, it's the cops!" Carisi exclaims and breaks away from Amanda. "Quick! Put your clothes back on."

Amanda just calmly refastens her bra and begins to button back up, watching him do the same. "'The cops?' Carisi, we are the cops."

"Yeah, it's just something we kids would say when we were about to get busted for doing something naughty."

She gives him a wry grin. "Funny."

Just then the expected barrage of kids bursts into the room with shouts of 'Uncle Sonny.' They want to take him downstairs to show him something.

"Hey guys, I can't do that right now okay? I'm playing with Amanda." Amanda smirks at the euphemism as Carisi continues. "She made this cool box for me you see and I am still looking at all of the toys inside of it."

'Ooohs' and 'Ahhhas' excitedly escape from their mouths as Carisi shows them some of the miniature objects that have already been revealed. But the gaggle of kids quickly lose interest and run downstairs to amuse themselves elsewhere after only a few minutes.

"Not quite like last time, eh?" Amanda asks him.

"How so?"

"It didn't last all night this time. You, me, an erector set. . ." She smiles mirthfully.

"That's right! That was the first night I ever spent over at your place." He grins. "We fell asleep on the couch, remember?"

"It was also the last," she says and the mood grows somber..

"I don't want it to be the last."

"I don't think I want it to be either."

EIGHT: MALL

"Okay, next," Amanda says, shaking it off. No need to get too serious. Yet.

Carisi pulls a replica of the mall they took Jesse to that day they found Vince working as Santa Claus.

"Damn," Carisi says. "Vince and Kim, huh? What's going on there?"

"I just hope it's not romantic," Amanda muses. "Kim isn't too good with relationships."

"Are any of you Rollins girls?"

Amanda punches him lightly. "Hey! That's not nice."

Carisi laughs. "Relax Mandy, I'm pretty sure they're just recovery buddies. Vince isn't really interested in more as far as I can tell."

Amanda breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I really don't think it's a good time for her, you know? I'm glad he's just a supportive guy in her life and all but I do hope you're right and that he's not all that interested in pursuing other things."

"Well, I don't think he'll have an interest in anyone for a while yet. He needs to recover from losing Dionne and I have a feeling that will be a long road for him. He's only just started."

She nods. "Hey, did I ever tell you about the conversation I heard between them? After she got his number? And BEFORE they left green paint all over my couch?"

'No, I'm pretty sure you haven't."

"I told you that you could call me anything you want to. . .."

Kim listens to Vino's reply. She had called him and it sounded like they were arranging a hook up. Amanda was not happy with that.

"'Dionne?' Yeah that has a nice ring to it. You can call me that."

"Uh huh. Uh huh," Kim continues, listening to him. "So what costume would you like me to wear? You mentioned Star Trek so I went online to look at various cosplay options. Andorians looks kinda cute. Would you like to see me as an Andorian, baby?"

It takes only seconds before Kim backpedals. "Oh no no. I didn't mean anything by it. If the idea of me as an Andorian upsets you I'll totally be something else. No problem."

"Really?" Carisi asks Amanda. "An Andorian? Are you sure you're remembering that correctly?"

"Yeah I think so. What's the big deal?"

Carisi sighs and shakes his head, crossing his fingers and looking down at them resting in his lap. "An Andorian? That's bad. Kim shouldn't have suggested that to him."

"Why?"

"I thought I mentioned – oh maybe you forgot. It's so obscure. Dionne would dress up in costumes for all the science fiction conventions they would go to together. And when she would go as an Andorian . . ."

"Oh that's right!" Amanda suddenly remembers. "That's what she was wearing the first time they had sex."

Carisi tips his head and raises just a corner of his lips. "It was more than that, Rollins. It's not always about sex you know."

"What was the 'more'?"

"He loved her in that costume – thought she was cute you know. It was his favorite. And it was how he remembered her after she died."

"Oh."

"It was bad enough that he suggested Kim go by the name 'Dionne.' After that, hearing that she wanted to dress up as an Andorian would have broken his heart. It would have been too much."

"Poor Vince."

"Yeah," Carisi turns away and raises an index finger to the corner of one eye briefly and he hopes discreetly. He rarely teared up at the thought of what happened to Vince and Dionne anymore . . . why was it getting to him now?

"Hey, are you okay?" Amanda rubs his shoulder lightly.

Damn, she notices.

"Yeah, it's Vince's heartache, not mine. Let's move on."

"Okay."

NINE: FIREPLACE

"And lucky number nine!" Carisi exclaims, practically ripping open the box labeled '9.'

Amanda smiles at his enthusiasm.

He chuckles when he sees what's in the box. "A fireplace, huh?"

"Yup."

"Intricate work here. I'm impressed." He runs his fingers over the little logs with their realistic texture and up the 'flames.' They felt odd to his fingertips and weren't anything he was familiar with. "What are these made of?"

"A girl never tells, you know that."

He groans.

"You know what Rollins?"

"Huh?"

"A girl does tell."

"Is that so?"

He begins to recite phrases from the I Never game they had played while getting drunk off of eggnog.

"Never have I ever had my bodice ripped."

She gives him an 'oh please' smile.

"Never have I ever had male delivered to my box."

She rolls her eyes.

"Never have I ever played someone like a flute."

"You're too much." She laughs.

"Never have I ever sheathed a sword."

"A bet not," she snarks.

"Never have I ever danced with a Coney Island whitefish."

"Okay that's it!" She lunges towards him, practically knocking over the calendar this time herself, going in for the tickle. He doesn't resist, although his belly laughing looks uncomfortable. Amanda never knew there were so many variations on a grimace. She starts squealing when he tries to tickle her back.

"Okay, okay. We're getting too loud. My mom's going to wonder what we're up to."

"Afraid you're going to get caught doing something naughty in your room?" Amanda mockingly gasps.

"Cut it out."

TEN: COUCH ALA GREEN PAINT

"Time to check out what's next. Lucky number ten!" Carisi says with enthusiasm.

"Is every number lucky to you? First nine then ten?"

"Every number's lucky when I have my Lady Luck around." He smiles and plucks her cheek.

"Uh . . . Yeah," Amanda looks down and pulls his coat a little tighter around herself. She had lost that $400. She wasn't lucky at all.

"Let's see what we've got here."

When he pulls out the little couch he laughs. It is smeared with green paint just like hers had been and had a teeny tiny little bottle of what could only be green body paint sitting on it.

"What a night, eh?" he says.

"Yeah, and it wasn't a good one."

"I didn't react so well . . ."

She puts up a hand. "I know. You've already apologized. No more please. The guilt phase is over."

He smiles, glad to know that he really and truly is off the hook. But then . . .

"There's something I don't understand about you, Mandy. Something that would have helped to know that night."

"What is it?"

"This gambling thing … how does it work?"

Oh, he wants to have this conversation.

She breathes in carefully and steels herself before opening up to him. "Well, you see my daddy was a gambler. And this was the only way I could be close to him."

She sniffs, but has no actual tears to cry. "Before AND after he left us."

He reaches for her hand and holds it tenderly while she details gambling with her father as a young girl, how much he had meant to her, and how gambling had become her coping mechanism as an adult.

It gets really hard for her at one point – the point where she tries to tell him a truth that is buried deep within the core of her being. It is the truth about how she felt once she realized her father had actually left her behind for good. Not the 'truth' she tries to tell herself to cover the pain, but the real truth.

Carisi puts a soft hand behind her neck and draws her forehead into his. "Hey, it's okay. Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

It is all she needs to hear for the floodgates to open and she is able to tell him all of it – everything about this vice that has plagued her for so many years.

A bit of her darkness is banished in the process – burned off by his compassion. His attentiveness, his patience as she discusses these hard truths has allowed her to free herself from them.

God how she loved him in those moments.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .


Based on this OTP Advent Calendar fic prompt list posted by yankeecountess . Thank you so much!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Advent Calendar Part 4!