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"You." Fin said when he caught sight of Carisi walking through the bullpen. "You."

"Me?" Carisi asked, raising an eyebrow. "What about me?" He glanced over at Amanda who just shrugged. Mildly confused, but more amused at Fin's tone than concerned, Carisi continued to walk over towards Amanda and handed her a cup of coffee before he perched himself on the edge of her desk.

"Thanks," she said softly as she looked at him with what only could be described as "heart eyes." She looked away quickly before Kat came back and told them to "get a room already."

"You and Rollins babysit Jayden once and you corrupt him! Knowing Rollins, though, I know this was all you..."

"Okay, Fin, you gotta read me in here. I don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Jayden wants a spaghetti maker!" Fin exclaimed, exasperated. "Phoebe and I get back from our vacation and the kid is literally obsessed with spaghetti. It's all he talks about. He wants to make spaghetti like Billie and Jessie. He won't stop talking about it. Blue spaghetti. Red spaghetti. Green spaghetti. I shoulda known you'd be extra and make somethin' from scratch and fun. Now Pap's cooking will never be good enough again. The kid already thinks Phoebe cuts his grilled cheese sandwiches better than I do."

Carisi laughed. "That's what this is about? He doesn't want a real spaghetti maker, Fin." He shook his head. "For the record, we actually had Paw Patrol mac and cheese from a box," he cringed slightly, "when he was over."

"Wait...what?"

Amanda laughed now at Fin's bewildered expression. "It's true, Sarge. Counselor Carisi can be persuaded to make things out of a box by a group of adorable children - even if he dies a little inside during the process," she winked at Carisi.

Carisi held his hands up. "Normally, I'd say I don't negotiate with toddler terrorists, but they are pretty good at arguing their case sometimes..."

Fin snorted. "Well, they must've learned that from you. You're the one who left us for the dark side," he teased before he steered the conversation back on track. "Wait, if he's not talking about a real spaghetti maker, what is he talking about?" Fin asked curiously.

"A playdoh pasta maker. Well, I think it's actually marketed as a noodle maker, but that's beside the point, I suppose."

"That's a thing?" He glanced over at Rollins. "I'm assuming that was a gift to the girls from Pasta Man here?"

"Actually, no." She replied.

"I'll have you know my ma bought it for them," Carisi replied, crossing his arms. "It wasn't me...but had I found it first, I would have bought it." He pointed out. "It's actually pretty cool."

"I think he likes playing with it as much as Jessie and Billie," his wife said as she poked his shoulder with her pointer finger. "Well, maybe even more than Jessie. She loves to remind us she's "too old for little kid toys now."

"I think we have different definitions of 'cool,' Counselor," Fin quipped.

"You see," Amanda began to explain, "Billie helped Nonna Carisi make spaghetti-"

"They actually made fettucine." Carisi interrupted.

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Fettucine. Sorry."

"They're different-"

"... shapes and fettucine has egg in the dough, while spaghetti and linguine usually don't have eggs in the dough, so they produce different flavors," she finished for him.

Carisi blinked a few times at her but didn't say anything.

"What?" She shrugged. "I do listen when you talk."

"Maybe there is hope for you after all, Rollins," he said with a laugh.

"No, thanks. I like that you do most of the cooking. Let's keep it that way."

"Okay, you two love birds, please get on with the story. I'm invested," Fin said.

"Well," Amanda continued, "like I was saying, Billie and Nonna made fettucine and Billie did become obsessed with the pasta machine. The girl wanted to use it every day."

"And it obviously didn't go over well when we told her we couldn't do that."

"Yeah," Amanda scoffed. "I thought Jessie was dramatic when she was four, but Billie by far takes the cake in that department."

"Ma saved our sanity. She found the playdoh pasta maker at Target one day and since it resembled hers, she figured it would satisfy Billie's obsession. Luckily for us, it did."

Fin laughed. "I just can't believe Rollins let me get all worked up over this knowing full well he was talking about a toy."

"You're entertaining when you're upset. It brought some enjoyment to this dreary Wednesday morning," she said.

Carisi sighed as his phone chimed. "Ugh, that's my cue to go. I have a meeting with the serial rapist's defense attorney in twenty minutes."

"Lucky you." Fin said.

"Thanks for the coffee, Carisi."

"Anytime, Rollins." He winked at her. "See you later."

Amanda watched with a smile on her face as he walked away, only turning around to face Fin again once Carisi was completely out of sight. "What?" She asked when she noticed the funny way he was looking at her.

"Nothin'."

"Fin," she warned.

"It's nothin', really," he said, shrugging, as he pulled out his chair to sit down. "It's just you guys have been together for a while now, married for a while now, and you never left your honeymoon phase."

"Thanks, I think?" Sure, they had the typical bickering that occurs in long term relationships, and occasionally work-related disagreements, but for the first time in her entire life, she never felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even if they were "fighting" he would still bring her a mid-morning coffee, she would still volunteer to drop paperwork off at his office, and they still said "I love you." It was completely different from the way she grew up. They loved each other unconditionally, it was so incredibly different from the way her parents' love came with a litany of conditions.

"It's a compliment, really, Rollins," he assured her. "You deserve to be happy, and I'm glad that Carisi was the one who made you realize that. That's all," he shrugged. "He's a good guy."

Amanda ran her thumb over her wedding band as she looked over at the family photo on her desk. It was taken at his parents' house on Christmas Eve. Dominick was holding Jessie and she was holding Billie in front of the Christmas tree. She, Jessie, and Billie were all looking at the camera, smiling happily, but Carisi was looking at the three of them. The look of pure joy on his face always made her heart skip a beat and instantly put her in a better mood every time she looked at the picture.

"Yeah," she agreed, softly. "The best."