Another take on 22x16. Can be a continuation of the last chapter if your heart desires.
Initially it was inspired by the promo pic of Kat, Celine, Rollins and Carisi, but it kind of grew from there...

Amanda felt lighter – happier, really – as she and Sonny walked back to other side of the venue where all their friends were. They were together even though they agreed in a brief, hushed conversation they didn't want to tell their friends tonight. Tonight, was for Fin and Phoebe and a celebration of their decision not to get married. As for her and Carisi, the change in their relationship was theirs. It was special and a secret she wanted to hold close to her heart for at least a few days until disclosure papers would need to be filled out and processed, both of them knowing there was too much at stake to not disclose in a timely manner.

Sonny followed a polite two steps behind her as they walked over to meet Kat and Celine. She couldn't help how she kept glancing over her shoulder as she awkwardly fidgeted with her shawl and her clutch in her hands.

"Rollins," he teased with a whine. "You're not doing a very good job at being discreet. I thought you were a detective."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, blushing slightly. "I just want to make sure I didn't imagine what just happened."

"You definitely didn't imagine it," he replied.

"You do plan on coming home with me, right?" She raised an eyebrow.

"There's no place else I'd rather be. If you want me there; I mean."

"I want you." She breathed and they both knew exactly what she meant.

"And I want you."

"Good." She grinned. "Then we're on the same page. I'll get us out of here in thirty minutes tops. You get an Uber on standby."

"Yes, ma'am." He winked before he schooled his face into a neutral expression as they joined Kat and Celine as Fin and Phoebe walked away to talk to Elliot and Olivia.

"Hey, guys," Kat greeted. "I was wondering where you two went off to."

Carisi shrugged. "Just admiring the view," he replied, catching Amanda's gaze for a second. It wasn't a lie, per se. He was admiring her as the view over there after all.

The waiter walked over and offered glasses of champagne which all four of them readily accepted.

Amanda may have stared a moment too long after she clinked her champagne glass against Carisi's when Celine suggested they toast to partners. She was only half listening as Kat and Celine told them about their latest adventures.

Suddenly, she registered Carisi's voice in her head. "You cold?"

"Hmm?" She hummed, distractedly.

"I asked if you're cold." He repeated. "You're shivering. You can have my jacket," he said as he started to shrug his suit jacket off.

"Counselor," Kat interrupted, laughing. "That's very chivalrous of you and all, but she has a shawl. It's right there," she finished as she pointed to Amanda's hands.

"Oh," he chuckled nervously. "I didn't notice. Here, let me help you," he said as he reached for her shawl. He gave her a soft smile as he opened it for her to step into and then she took a step away from him as she wrapped it tightly around herself – imagining the whole time that it was his arms around her instead.

"It's a shame there was no ceremony. I was looking forward to hearing what you wrote for it," Kat offered. "You deliver some good closing arguments. I would have been interested in hearing what you had to say about love." She took a long sip of champagne, waiting to see if he would take the bait and tell them what he wrote.

"Well," Amanda began casually, "I have a pretty good feeling that he'll get to read it someday." They made eye contact for a second, and there was no mistaking what Amanda was implying.

Carisi nodded. "There will be other weddings, I'm sure."

"That you'll get to officiate?" she asked, almost skeptically.

He shrugged. "We'll see," he offered, even though he knew the next time he read that little speech it would be in the form of wedding vows. He was sure of that.

"I need to check in with the sitter. Excuse me," Amanda said stepping a few feet away.

"So, no Nicole tonight?" Kat asked, eyebrow raised, once Amanda was out of earshot.

"No."

"Just no? That's all you have to say?"

"Nicole and I are done, Kat," he replied. "Over. Finished. History -whatever you young people call it these days..."

"I'd say I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm not."

"Kat!" Celine exclaimed, wide eyed.

"What? I just don't think she was right for him. There's someone out there for you, Carisi, but Nicole wasn't it." She shrugged and looked over towards Amanda, and she smiled to herself when she noticed how Carisi followed suit and was essentially staring at Amanda.

"I hate to cut this short, but I have to go." Amanda said, tossing her phone into her clutch as she walked back over to the group.

"Is everything okay with the girls?" Carisi asked, playing along, furrowing his brow.

"Sienna said they're having a rough night. I really think I should get home and check on them."

"I'll take you home," he offered.

"No, Carisi. You don't need to do that." She waved a hand in his direction. "You shouldn't have to leave on my account. Stay and enjoy the night." It took everything she had in her to deliver that line with a straight face.

Luckily, Carisi's courtroom poker face took over for him. "No, no, I insist. I know you're a cop and all, but it's getting late, so just humor me, will ya?"

"Okay, fine." She huffed, rolling her eyes. "I guess we better go say goodbye to Fin and Phoebe."

Kat turned around with an evil smirk on her face as she sipped on her champagne with a little snort after Rollins and Carisi said goodbye to her and Celine before heading over to find Fin and Phoebe.

"What?" Celine asked curiously as she leaned in closer to her girlfriend.

"Those two love birds may be going back to her place, but they aren't going to check on her kids, that's for damn sure."

"Huh?"

"Amanda told me this morning that Sienna was on vacation so the girls were at her mother's tonight – in Rockland County or something like that. And I'm pretty sure I caught a glimpse of them making out over there before they came over here," she snickered.

Celine smiled, realization dawning on her. "Good for them. They have chemistry."

"They sure do," Kat agreed. "I just hope it's not a one-time thing. I don't think either one of them could survive that.

"How is it morning already?" Sonny asked, scrubbing a hand over his face when Amanda's alarm clock went off entirely too early the next morning at 6:30AM.

She giggled – a special little flirty kind of giggle that he never had been blessed to hear come from her lips until last night and would never tire of the sound. He'd forever associate it with last night, while they tried to maneuver themselves through her apartment without breaking physical contact and undress each other all at the same time. Somehow, they succeeded, leaving a trail of clothes in their wake, and by the time they tumbled into her bed, there wasn't a stitch of clothing between them.

It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. It was easy. It was special. It was perfect and they both knew what they had was forever.

"You kept me up pretty late, Counselor." She poked his chest with her pointer finger. "And woke me up pretty early to continue the...festivities. We just actually have to get out of bed soon-ish now if we're going to go back to your apartment for clothes, pick up cannoli, and get on the road by 8:30 to head out to my mom's."

"Uh, just a second." He rolled over to face her more. "That goes both ways, Detective. And I, for one, don't seem to recall you complainin' one bit. You were doin' the exact opposite of complainin'."

"So were you." She rolled towards him and closed the distance between them. "Dominick?"

"Hmm?"

"I have zero regrets...I'm all in. I just...I just want to make sure you know that."

"It should go without saying, that I'm all in, too, but if you need me to say it every day, I will. And if you think we're moving too fast, we can slow down. You'll tell me if it's too much too soon, right?"

She nodded. "I don't want to waste another second. This is right. This is where we are supposed to be." She reached for his hand and threaded her fingers between his before turning it to kiss his wrist. "Sometimes...sometimes I think it never worked out with other people because what we were both looking for the whole time was right in front of us."

"Maybe things just had to happen this way." He squeezed her hand and then leaned in to kiss her lips.

They got lost in the feel of each other until the blaring of Amanda's alarm clock broke through the room again. "Ugh," she groaned as they pulled away from each other and she reached over to turn it off this time instead of hitting snooze. "You're more than welcome to join me in the shower," she told him as she tossed her legs over the side of the bed. "If you don't mind a dozen or so water toys and Crayola bath markers being in the way."

"Mm. That sounds very ...enticing," He ran his finger along the curve of her back and smirked at the goosebumps that appeared on her skin. He inched closer to her and trailed a few kisses along the curve of her neck towards her collarbone. "Why don't you get the shower ready and I'll start a pot of coffee?"

There was that giggle he loved so much escaping her lips again. "Sounds like a deal, Counselor." She turned her head the slightest bit so she could kiss the corner of his mouth and then she headed to the bathroom.

Sonny found his boxers on the floor near the bed and slipped into them before he padded towards the kitchen. He stepped over the abandoned clothes from last night as he went and decided they could deal it later. When he reached the kitchen, he rummaged through her pantry for the specialty blend grounds from their favorite coffee shop that he knew she liked to use for special occasions, because this, was definitely a special occasion.

He smiled smugly to himself when he found it and then began to prepare the coffee pot. He let out a chuckle when he heard Amanda mutter to herself about all the "crap" her kids have in the bathtub before he heard the bathroom fan turn on followed by the sounds of running water.

He was just setting the coffee mugs near the coffee pot when he could have sworn his mind was playing tricks on him.

He could hear Jessie whining and Billie crying.

Then there was a on knock the door followed by a "For the love of God, Amanda, answer the damn door," in an unmistakable Southern accent.

He quickly searched for his undershirt from the discarded clothing and pulled it over his head before he went to open the door.

"Uncle Sonny!" Jessie exclaimed in complete surprise when he opened the door.

Beth Anne Rollins was perfectly put together with a full face of makeup and not a hair out of place on her head, but the girls were still in their pajamas and Jessie's hair hadn't even been brushed yet.

"Hi, Jess," he smiled down at her before he brought his gaze to Beth Anne's. "I, uh, I thought that Manda said she was picking the girls up from your place around 10 o'clock."

"Well, that was the plan, but plans change, Sonny." She practically shoved Billie in his arms before she stepped out into the hallway to grab the diaper bag and suitcases.

Billie settled down in his embrace and he patted her back gently while he murmured about how much he missed her.

"Kimmy called last night. It's visitors' weekend at the halfway house she's at now, and she wants me to bring Jim and Mason up to see her. It's a three-hour drive to get there, I didn't have time to wait for Amanda to come and pick up the girls. That would be precious time Kim misses with her daddy and her son. I figured I could just drop them off on the way."

"Grandma made us wake up before the sun woke up," Jessie yawned, rubbing her eyes, and Sonny could almost see the wheels turning inside of Jessie's brain. "And you must've, too, if you came to visit Mommy and were here before us!" She exclaimed.

Beth Anne smirked as she eyed him up and down and he felt himself blush as her eyes darted to the clothing that was haphazardly strewn across the small apartment. "Yeah, baby, I'm sure that is how that happened," she replied sarcastically, and Sonny was incredibly grateful Jessie was too young to understand sarcasm or question why their clothes were discarded around the apartment.

"Hun-gy!" Billie exclaimed, reaching out to pat Sonny's face, frowning when she didn't know what to make of the stubble there.

"Me too," Jessie agreed. "Grandma gave us goldfish in the car but I want breakfast food!"

Sonny had to fight every urge he had to roll his eyes at Amanda's mother. She really stepped up to help with the girls when Amanda had to go to Atlanta, and even though he had made a joke about Beth Anne being featured in an Investigation Discovery documentary when Amanda told him she had easily agreed to let Jim stay with her after he was discharged from the hospital, that had not been a complete disaster by any means. It was amazing that one request from Kim could send the whole thing spiraling again.

"Did you bother to call Amanda and tell her any of this?" he asked – already knowing the answer.

She shrugged. "It just happened so fast, Sonny. I could tell her now if you'd like me to," she quipped. "Where is she exactly?"

"She's, uh, in the shower."

"Then you can relay the message for me. Okay, now I really must be going. Bye, girls!" She called out as an afterthought as she stepped out into the hallway and pulled the door closed behind her.

"Okay, why don't you watch TV for a little bit and then I'll make some pancakes for everyone. How's that sound?"

"Oh, yay!" Jessie clapped. "Your pancakes are the bestest. They're way better than Momma's!"

"There you are...I was beginning to think you ran out on me," she teased when she heard him enter the bathroom after he got the girls settled in the living room.

"Not a chance, Rollins. But, uh, well, there's a slight hiccup in our plans."

"What do you mean?" She poked her head out of the shower when he never pulled back the curtain to step in and join her. "Aren't you a little overdressed right now, Carisi?"

"How would you feel about pancakes for breakfast?"

"What are you talking about? Didn't you say we'd pick up cannoli for breakfast on the way to my mom's? Did you have a stroke or something?"

"Your mom just dropped off the girls. They're sitting on the couch waitin' for breakfast 'cause all she did was give them crackers for the car ride."

"What?!" She turned more to crane her the upper half of her body out of the shower so she could look at him better, knocking over half of the girls' toys in the process. "Damn it," she cursed, and as a reflex, Sonny reached out to steady her.

"She said Kim called her last night and told her it's visitors' day at her halfway house today, and..."

"Of course, this had to do with Kim." She cut in. "It would've at least been nice to a have the courtesy of a phone call to let me know that there was a change of plans regarding my children..."

He sighed, understanding her frustration with her mother's flippant attitude regarding the responsibility of childcare. "So, in light of these new developments, it's probably no longer appropriate for me to join you in there – even though I really, really, wish I could," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her cheek and licking the drops of water on her skin.

"I love it when you talk lawyer to me."

"Good thing I'm a lawyer, then." He smiled against her skin. "Raincheck?"

"That depends. Will you collect on this raincheck?"

"Mhmm. What if I collected on this and your three drinks offer at the same time?"

"A two for one deal?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Somethin' like that," he chuckled. "Bella owes me a favor. I'm sure she'd babysit soon – if that's okay with you, of course."

"Well," she hummed, "I'd say you got yourself a new deal, Counselor."