6 a.m.

Amanda wakes first. No sun yet, it must still be cloudy or even still raining. She feels the weight of his arm around her waist. She can hear his deep breathing, even feel it tickle her neck because he's so close. She settles back against him, snuggling into his sleeping embrace. For months now she's woken up next to him, feeling this...happy.

Smiling she rests her hand over his arm. Safe. That's another way she's discovered Dominick Carisi makes her feel. She never knew having someone stay could feel this way. She always assumed it would feel almost like they were intruding on her life. Like she'd just be waiting for them to leave.

Not Dominick. Maybe because he was already her best friend, and even stayed overnight at her house, before they were lovers. Ugh she hated that word, but nothing else seemed to work. Boyfriend? No, she wasn't 16. Significant other? That sounded like they were about sign paperwork. He was practically living with them now, going home just to get more clothes. Her partner? No, that wasn't enough, and they used to be actual partners. Involved? Together? She didn't know what to call this...thing? between them, or even him. For so long she had to defend him being a part of her life without being whatever he is now. She would constantly defend it to Kat, to Finn, to her parents, even her shrink. Why they were so deep in each other's lives without taking that last step.

She just knew it felt right. For once she knew they were both on the same page at the same time.

If they were going to disclose this finally she guessed she needed to at least be able to call it something. She has this debate in her head a few more minutes.

Amanda rolls herself over to face him, keeping close so his arm would continue to drape possessively over her waist. She remembered that neither of them were dressed. They'd both fallen asleep almost immediately. Right after they'd...she bit her lip and blushed when she recalled last night. How he'd looked at her the whole walk home from dinner, and even when she was walking Sienna out. How she'd come back in and closed the door, turning to lean against it, and looked back at him.

He closed the distance between them in an instant, capturing her lips with his, pinning her against the door. She opened her mouth to him, deepening the kiss. Luxuriating in the feeling of his whole body flush against hers. His hands in her hair, tracing invisible lines down her neck, tracing the outline of her breasts, through her shirt and smiling against her lips when he felt her whole body shiver. Wrapping his hands around her waist, and under her to lift her up. She wrapped her legs around him. Breaking the kiss, she softly cries out his name "Dominick" when she feels the effect she's having on him press urgently against her. He braces her back against the door and bends his knees, giving him a better angle and allowing his hands free again.

In that moment she didn't care a thing about labels, she just knows she wants him. He pulls her away from the door, carrying her into the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind them.

Lost in the memory of last night, and how Dominick had made her come undone, more than once, she brings her fingers to her lips, smiling against them. She didn't even notice that he was awake and was watching her with a big smug smile on his face.

"What"? She asked, blushing furiously when she saw him watching her.

"Nothing, you're just beautiful".

She pulled the sheet up over her face.

He always says the corniest things. And she can't believe how much she's enjoying it. Actually, Amanda Rollins loves every single hokey minute of it.

He pulls the sheet down and she smiles at him, leaning over to kiss him. Not the passionate kiss full of need like last night but deep, and both of them enjoying the closeness.

After a minute, she pulls back, opening her eyes to meet his. His eyes are the coolest blue, yet so full of warmth. She would never get tired of looking into them, having them look at her. He still has half a smirk left on his face. That's her favorite look on Carisi. Eyes full of love for her, but still, that mischievous smirk.

"I really think we should tell Liv and Hadid today". She waits to see his expression.

He raises his eyebrows "Oh, you were serious about that"?

God who would've ever thought she'd fall in love with that Staten Island accent.

"Yea, I think it's time. What do you think"? She wants him to say it again, even though he's told her a few times he is ready whenever she is.

Carisi sits up a bit to put his arm behind his head. "I told you, I was ready on Memorial Day". He grinned at her. It had been 3 months of bliss since that weekend as far as he was concerned.

"I was thinking start with the easy". Her trepidation about sharing with family was more about them than it was about Carisi, or even about her...anymore. She could just hear her mother, she'd sound happy for her at first, then immediately start in on how Amanda needed to change everything about herself to make sure she can 'keep her man'. She didn't know what to expect from Carisi's family. They were a foreign concept to her, no one she knew besides him had a family that close.

All she would face at work was some teasing from Finn and Kat, but after a while they'd surely get tired of it.

"Manda, my mother's never met you and she already loves you". He strokes her hair, tucking it behind her ear. "I've told them so much about you and the girls over the years, they feel like they already know you". He left out the part where they've also asked him for years to bring Amanda and the girls around so they could meet...and this was before they were even seeing each other.

"And don't get me started on your mother...". He isn't sure how to say it without offending Amanda. Her mother can be sweet as pie, or as mean as a viper, but she's always overly critical of Amanda.

He continues, "I can promise you this, if Beth Anne's anything other than supportive, I'll find a reason to put a warrant out on her". He smiles, hoping the joke will make her relax.

It does.
Amanda laughs. The more time she's been in therapy and the longer she's with Dominick, the less of a sting her mom's words carry.

Amanda's dad was a whole different story. Jim Rollins seemed to be trying to change, and apologized many times to Amanda. Knowing his background with all the Rollins girls made it hard for Carisi to trust him, but he was trying, for Amanda's sake.

He caresses her cheek with his thumb. "Seriously, I've been ready for a while. I can come with you to Liv's first thing today, and if you want to, you can come with me to see Hadid".

She leans over, kissing him again. This time, it deepens into something more, bodies drawing closer together, and just as she wraps one leg around him, they hear the giggles of a 5 and 3 year old getting up.

"To be continued"? She asks him.
"Goes without saying". He gives her a chaste kiss before getting out of bed to take a quick shower.

As he turns on the water she rolls over, to look at him and asks."So...what exactly are we even calling this? Like what name for it are we disclosing. I guess we need to put some kind of label on it"?

"A relationship"? He calls, from the bathroom, then, with a smirk he leans out the bathroom door. "Hey, you know, we could always stop at the courthouse first and get married".

He held up his hands "No need to think up a name then, right? It's husband and wife". He was grinning ear to ear now.

She picks up a flip flop off the floor and throws it at him jokingly.

"Gettin a little ahead of yourself there aren't you counselor"? she laughs as he tries to catch it but it bounces off his hand, falling to the floor.

"Oh it's happenin eventually Rollins, trust me. Maybe not now... but it will. You'll see". Carisi jokes. "I'll let you keep your name though, I mean I can't call you Carisi, that's just weird".

She throws the other flip flop, this time he grabs it in mid-air before it hits him, and tosses it back at her, grinning at her one more time before he gets into the shower.

Amanda lies there a moment, at first thinking about how that joke would have scared her to death a year ago. Now, she could laugh at it, and maybe even think what it might be like to marry Dominick Carisi, what kind of dress would she wear, would it be a church, or the courthouse. Definitely not Vegas or Atlantic City, not with her history in those places. The 150 Carisis on one side, and her 10 friends and family (including the kids and Frannie)on her side.

She gets lost in that daydream for a few minutes before she hears something crash in the kitchen and has to jump up to see what the girls have gotten up to.