Hello there!

Here's the next one. I hope I'm able to keep this one week update.

Thank you all for your support, this has gone way bigger than I thought. Thank you again Lyssa813 for your amazing review! I hope you'll like this chapter as it brought me a smile while I was writing it, and I hope I'll hear or read your opinions. ;D!

Surprise.

Rafael knew he looked like he was going to war, and that he would surely be teased for it, but he didn't care.

In a week their leave would end, and today it was his first outing alone with the kids. Rita had managed to get three reservations to a high-end spa, and she had invited Olivia and Amanda leaving him alone. He wasn't going to be alone for the whole day, just during the time he needed to get himself and the kids to the zoo. Olivia and Amanda had arranged a day at the zoo for all the kids so he and Sonny would be spending the afternoon together.

It wasn't that he was scared of the kids, but he had never been alone with the three of them in the middle of the city. There was always someone with him, mostly Olivia or his mother.

And that was the reason he was looking like he was going to war. Sarah and Graham were sitting side by side in the double stroller they had bought, and Noah was on the standing board behind the two big overfilled handlebar bags that contained all he had thought he could need. But the feeling that he was forgetting something hadn't left him yet.

Everything seemed to be going well as they made their way into the zoo as Noah talked about the elephants they were going to see.

"Nice t-shirts Rafael," Sonny said smirking without having said hello due to spotting them before they saw him and Jesse.

"I love them," Rafael said. He knew the color was a little fluorescent, but it made his life easier, letting him spot the kids really fast. They were orange, and each had an animal drawn on it. Noah's choice had been an elephant, obviously. Graham wore a monkey and Sarah a koala.

Not that Sarah was going to need it today, she wasn't walking yet. But Rafael wanted the kids to be equal, and she had gotten quite sneaky with her crawling at home.

Olivia had teased him when she saw them, threatening to buy him one with a shark. He had smirked at her words, already knowing which animal he would have put on Olivia's, a wolf, always protecting what's hers.

"You don't have a matching one?" Sonny asked as they crossed the doors of the zoo.

"Talk to me when you have more kids, and you go nuts when you can't spot them in less than five seconds," Rafael said knowing Sonny would throw him one of his comebacks. However, after receiving none he looked at the other man questioningly. Sonny was blushing, trying to keep his face blank. "No witty comeback?" Rafael asked while looking at the other man carefully. "Sonny? My mind is starting to make crazy assumptions."

"Aaa...Yeah." Sonny didn't manage much more as his blush spread on his skin.

"Oh, God!" Rafael said after a few seconds once he had connected the dots. "Really? Is Amanda pregnant? Should I say congratulations?" He didn't know if he was making a question or an affirmation as they both stopped in the middle of one of the zoo's roads.

"What?" Sonny asked leaving his bubble at last. "Yeah! Yeah, of course!" He said still blushing as Rafael clasped his shoulder in a friendly manner.

"God man! You scared me for a second there." He said smiling in earnest. "Congratulations!" He said again.

"Thanks," Sonny said blushing again with happiness in his face.

Rafael would have never thought he would be spending a day at the zoo with Carisi and their kids when he first met him. He drove him mad without really trying due to his suggestions and his naive ideas for the cases. But as the cases started to make him think more outside the box putting his law degree to use, he had started to make useful tips, not that Rafael wouldn't admit it, at least not yet. But the real change had happened barely two months ago.

He had been walking through the streets without a path trying to ease his mind to the idea of adopting not one but two kids in the same go. A brother and a sister with no one in the world to take care of them, to be their family along with Noah. Not knowing the time or where he was when they stumbled into each other but now realizing it was a blessing in disguise.

It had been a little weird, but thinking about it now it had been what he needed. Someone who knew him but not that deep, like Olivia, his mom or Rita. Someone who was good at listening despite his sometimes overbearing mouth, and who didn't diminish him for his fears, and instead told him a few of his own.

And from there, they had started to talk, sometimes about serious problems and many other times about their normal days. But it gave Rafael the vibe that Sonny was starting to be someone he could call a friend quicker than he had thought, despite all the teasing.

"How far along is she?" Rafael asked as they started to walk again, each of them pushing his stroller.

"10 weeks."

"It's still early."

"Yeah... We went to the doctor last week to have the official confirmation, and everything is fine." Sonny said remembering the scare they had during Jesse's delivery. "So..."

"So what?" Rafael asked curiously.

"Amanda wanted to wait until she reaches the second trimester to let everyone know..." Sonny said not ending the thought.

"And to me, that means?"

"You can't tell Olivia. Amanda would kill me." Sonny said pleadingly making Rafael laugh.

"Are you serious?" Rafael asked when Sonny didn't laugh or smile. "There's no way I can do that. I don't know how to lie to her." He said.

"Papi, los elefantes! (Papi, the elephants!)" Noah said making his father remember about his promise.

Lately, Noah had been fascinated by them, wanting to know everything his wandering mind could grasp. There was a public feeding in an hour, and Noah wanted to be the first in line, and his fear to not be there in time had made Rafael promise him that they would go see them first.

"Si mijo, ahora vamos a verlos. No te preocupes. (Yes mijo, we'll go now see them. Don't worry.)" Rafael said as he messed up Noah's curls.

"You've gotten remarkably good at multitasking Rafael." Sonny smug smile was present on his face.

"Yes, I've mastered the skill so don't even try to fool me. Because even in the remote case I could keep my mouth quiet for two weeks with something so big, I'm a dead man as soon as Olivia knows I've known for weeks. So don't count on me there amigo." Rafael said as his finger pointed at Sonny.

"Rafael," Sonny complained. "I wasn't even supposed to tell you."

"Not my problem."

"Rafael!"

"No, you are not going to fool me," Rafael said smirking. "You are going to call your wife, and tell her to at least tell Liv."

"It's only two weeks." Sonny tried.

"And pigs can fly. Liv is like a living lie-detector." Rafael said making Sonny laugh. "And you didn't tell me, I've guessed it." He tried to help.

"And that is supposed to help me." Sonny was a bit skeptic.

"Yeah. Blame me." Rafael offered. "And maybe bribe her with something just in case." Rafael was smirking now, and Sonny laughed at the other's man words.

"That could work." Sonny pondered.

"We have to have each other's backs," Rafael said surprising himself and Sonny with his words, at how easily they had slipped from his lips.

"Yeah..." Sonny murmured smiling. "But don't think you'll have a free ticket when you mess it up. This is your fault."

"My fault?" Rafael asked. "Sorry to inform you, but for a cop, your poker face sucks," Rafael said chuckling.

Sonny was laughing too, but before he could react to Rafael's words, Noah's yell interrupted them.

"Mira! (Look!)" Noah exclaimed happily and signaling the beautiful animals in front of them moving towards the water pool they had in their enclosure.

"They are beautiful, aren't they?" Rafael said as they stopped in front of the fence of the elephant's enclosure, looking at his son's amazing face. Making him smile and know it was going to be a marvelous day.