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Amanda rolled over in bed and snuggled closer to the man beside her with her eyes still closed. "I didn't hear you come in," she said to him in her half-awake, half-asleep state.
"I just got in a few minutes ago. Sorry I missed dinner and bedtime. This trial prep for the OC case I'm assisting with is...a lot, but I don't have to go back until Monday morning now, so it was worth it. I can devote my whole entire weekend to you and the girls." Sonny moved his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him as he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I tried not to wake you." He said softly against her hair, inhaling the pleasant, comforting scent of her coconut-lavender hair products.
"I don't care if you wake me," she reminded him as she opened her eyes to study him.
"I care." He countered.
"You could wake me on purpose and I wouldn't even mind."
"Uh-huh, sure."
"No, I'm serious! I love these little moments between us. When the girls and Frannie are asleep and it's quiet and just us. It's nice." She pressed herself closer to his side.
"Yeah, me, too."
"So, wake me up then. What time is it, anyways?"
"Just about midnight."
"Oh. You had a really long day. Did you get to eat? I'll make you something," she was about to roll away and get out of the bed before his arms around her waist stopped her.
"I had a granola bar around 6PM," he answered. "Or maybe that was actually around 3PM. I sorta lost track of time."
"You have to eat."
"I'm fine." Then he chuckled. "When did our lines switch? Usually, this conversation is the other way around."
"You need something. A snack? Actually, I'm not taking no for answer," she wiggled out of his arms. "I'll be right back."
For the brief time she was out of the room, Sonny struggled to keep his eyes open. He was completely exhausted after a grueling day of depositions and paperwork, but once he saw her pop back into the room wearing nothing but one of his old t-shirts, her blonde hair thrown up into a messy bun, holding a plate of appetizers in one hand and a bottle of wine and two wine glasses in the other hand, he got a second wind.
This was his life now – had been for the better part of a year - and he would forever be grateful. He got to see her and their girls every single day. He moved him with them a mere two months after they started dating, and it was the best decision either one of them had ever made. Everything Amanda thought she'd be afraid of proved to be irrelevant with him. They were still partners. They were equals. They still alternated between calling each other "Rollins" and "Amanda" or "Dominick" and "Carisi." They still argued and bickered on case details like they always had at work, they binged awful reality TV together, he made fancy breakfasts every Saturday and they had spaghetti night once a week. Everything was the same, but better, because they were together. There was no more guessing when it came to determining how they fit into each other's lives.
There would be a wedding in their future, too. He proposed to her in the middle of his office one Friday night when she came to meet him there after work for their date. He knew he probably should have made it more romantic, or waited until they got home, but when she popped into his office in that sheer back shirt and those skin tight jeans from a night that felt like a lifetime ago, and flipped her hair as she walked over to sit on the edge of his desk, any plan he had flew right out of the window.
He'd never forget the smile on her face as she said yes and he showed her the ring that he'd been keeping in his pocket for over two weeks – waiting for the perfect moment. He apologized for the moment not being more romantic or special and she smiled softly as she shook her head and told him it was perfect because it was him – and he was all she needed. She considered making a joke about how his office was much more romantic than a hospital corridor while she was in labor, but the last thing she wanted either one of them to think about as he slipped the beautiful engagement ring that had once belonged to his grandmother on her finger was Al.
She agreed to Staten Island wedding, tarantella and all, because it was Carisi family tradition; even though he told her that they could get married on their lunch break at the courthouse or go up to Atlantic City and elope one weekend. She laughed and told him his mother and the girls would never forgive them. "I think the three of them having been waiting for this even longer than we have," she told him.
They settled seamlessly into family life. The girls started calling him "dad" one random Tuesday while he was pouring their cereal before he had to rush out the door to make it to court in time for arraignments, and it was one of the most beautiful and important moments of his life. And being a dad to her children, was a role that Amanda was convinced Dominick Carisi, Jr. was destined to have. Sure, he was still a little bit of a pushover on some of the little things the girls did– like giving them cookies before dinner or reading three bedtime stories instead of two- but she knew it was because of the special relationship between dads and daughters (one that she never got to experience herself, though), and not because he didn't take his role as a dad seriously.
"It's nothing fancy," she began as he sat up and propped himself against the headboard before turning on the lamp on her nightstand. "Just some cheese, crackers, grapes and some wine because why not."
She slipped back into bed and handed him the plate before she carefully poured two glasses of wine, emptying the bottle between the glasses.
They spent the better part of an hour taking turns feeding each other little bites of cheese and crackers and grapes, and kissing away the crumbs, as they shipped their wine and recounted the day's events to each other. By the time they had finished their wine, they were giggling like school kids in a school yard over everything and nothing all at once.
"I really love you, Manda." He said, a combination of sleepy and slurred. "You're the best." He reached over to cup her face affectionately, in a manner that was very similar to the way he caressed her face after wiping her tears that night on the Hudson.
"No, you are." She placed her hand over his.
"Nope. You are."
"Well," she giggled, leaning over to dig something out from underneath the bed. "Maybe I am the best." She conceded as she produced a box of Girl Scout Cookies and a bag of Hershey kisses.
His eyes lit up in disbelief. "You've been holdin' out on me, Rollins? I thought the girls devoured the last of those cookies months ago."
She shrugged coyly. "A mom's gotta have some secrets, and if you think your mom never hid candy from you and your sisters and your dad and ate it in the bathroom in the middle of the night, you're terribly mistaken. I mean, where do you think I got this idea from?" She opened the sleeve of cookies and put one in her mouth before she handed him one. "You're lucky that I love you enough to share."
Sonny laughed. "I'm honored," he said, accepting the cookie and taking a bite.
"Wanna kiss?" she asked gesturing to the assortment of Hershey kisses in the bag.
"Mm. Yes, but not that kind of kiss."
He quickly moved the empty dishes and glasses to his nightstand and then leaned over to kiss her, extending his arm out to turn off the lamp.
She giggled against his lips – relishing in how she still got butterflies when he kissed her – to kiss him and to be kissed by him was officially her favorite hobby.
"Did you know," Sonny began as he peppered kisses all over her face and neck. "Our brains have special neurons that help us locate each other's lips in the dark?" He finally let his kisses landed on her lips.
"For real?" Her laugh morphed into a moan as he moved away from her lips and focused his attention on the sensitive skin of her neck.
"I mean, I read it on the internet so it must be true."
Amanda never believed in soulmates until she allowed herself to be loved by him, but now, sitting with him in their bed, laughing in the middle of the night while they munched away on snacks and drank wine, she realized that not only did she believe in soulmates, but she believed that just maybe she did deserve to be happy.