I kept thinking today was Thursday, but it's not, so here's some more Rollisi to hold us over.

It was almost the girls' bedtime by the time Amanda Rollins returned to her apartment on a cold and snowy January night. Knowing that it was a special night for the kids, she entered the apartment quietly and wasn't even surprised when Frannie was the only one who came to greet her at the door.

She stomped the remaining snow off her boots before she took them off and then carefully peeled off her gloves, scarf, hat and jacket. She returned Frannie's enthusiastic welcome and then silently made her way to the down the hallway.

She smiled widely at the sight that greeted her, but she lingered just out of their line of vision, perfectly content to being an observer in this moment.

Sonny was sitting on the couch, Jessie and Billie cuddled up on either side of him, and his laptop was on the coffee table. All three of them were engrossed with the book Mrs. Carisi was reading from the comfort of her own living room in Staten Island.

"Pop, how many times do we have to go over this?" An exasperated Sonny asked. "Just leave the laptop alone. You don't have to move the screen everything three minutes. If you leave it alone, we can see the book Ma's holding up just fine."

"Sorry, son," his father apologized, sheepishly, adjusting the laptop on his end. "How's that?"

"Perfect."

"Okay, good."

Mrs. Carisi cleared her throat, waiting patiently for her son and her husband to stop interrupting the story she was reading to the girls. "May I continue?"

"Yes, Ma."
"Sorry, dear."

Sonny and his father replied simultaneously.

"Grazie." She said before continuing. "Now, where were we? Let's see..." her eyes skimmed over the page of the book. "Ah, yes, here we are almost at the end... La Befana..."

She finished reading the page and then held up the book to camera. "Look, girls, see La Befana?"

"Scary!" Billie exclaimed, clinging tighter to Sonny as she wrinkled her nose.

"She's not scary," Carisi assured her with a kiss to the top of her head.

"Yeah, she's a good witch!" Jessie chimed in. "She loves the kids!"

Mrs. Carisi smiled brightly. "Yes, she does, Jessie. Someone paid attention to the story."

Jessie nodded enthusiastically. "I did!"

"So, what happens now?" Mrs. Carisi asked.

"We leave out the special stockings you made for us, and if we were good girls La Befana will leave candy for us. If we were bad girls, she'll leave us coal or a stick!"

"Mmhm."

"And we leave out bis-cotti and wine for her, but a grown-up has to do that for us."

"Brava, brava," Mrs. Carisi praised.

"Okay," Sonny began with a sigh, "girls, it's time to say good night."

Jessie and Billie let out small whines of displeasure before leaning over to blow kisses through the screen to the two people who instantly became their grandparents after spending Fourth of July in Staten Island.

"Why don't you two get your stockings from your room, and we can hang them up out here by the window?" Sonny suggested after the first round of goodbyes.

"Okay, come on, Billie," Jessie said as she climbed down from the couch and held her hand out to her little sister. "I'll help you."

When the girls disappeared out of sight, Mrs. Carisi spoke. "Sonny, please thank Amanda again for allowing us to share this tradition with the girls. It really means so much to me."

"She was honored that you wanted to include them," he replied truthfully. "I think it means as much to her as it does to you." And, it meant so much to him, too. He was so grateful that his entire family – even Theresa – had so easily welcomed Amanda and the girls into their family.

His parents beamed at him. "It's a shame it's a school night. It would have been nice to have the grandkids here for an Epiphany sleepover," his father said.

"I know," Sonny nodded in agreement, recalling how magical his parents made the Epiphany for him and his sisters were growing up. "Zoom helped a little bit. I'll send Gina a video tomorrow morning, and she can show it to you."

"Oh, I'd love that, Sonny," his mother gushed. "One more thing before you hang up, though..."

"Hmm?"

"I know what La Befana is bringing for those precious little girls..." Of course she did – buying the Epiphany gifts for their grandchildren was something she and her husband had always done ever since Mia was a baby. "But, is La Befana going to leave something for their beautiful madre, too? Something that I gave to you months ago..."

Amanda swore she could see Carisi blush in the dimly lit room.

"Ma!" He exclaimed, reaching to scratch the back of his neck – one of his nervous ticks.

"What?" She replied, dramatically. "I thought you were going to give it to her soon after you asked me for it on Thanksgiving. I've been on pins and needles here waitin'. Did you forget you have it, Sonny?"

Amanda knew one thing for sure – you didn't need to be a detective to know what Sonny and his mother were alluding to. It was definitely an engagement ring, and her heartbeat quickened at the realization. Thinking of marriage no longer terrified her, and she knew it was because of him. She took a few quiet steps backwards, waiting to see how the rest of the conversation was going to unfold. She knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, but she couldn't help herself, either.

"Of course not!" It's practically been burning a hole in his briefcase since he picked it up from its cleaning at his cousin's jewelry store two days after he brought it back from Staten Island.

Mrs. Carisi smirked. "I'm just giving you a hard time, Sonny, 'cause you're my only son and a mother gets to do that. You'll know when the time is right."

"I think any moment could be the moment, actually."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

He shrugged. "Because even though I think that, I still want it to be perfect for her, and every time I get close to thinking it's the right time something comes up."

The first time he thought about giving it to her, was a rainy Sunday morning a few weeks ago. At first, he thought it was fate, or at the very least serendipitous. Making love while it was raining, was one of Amanda's favorite things, and since the girls were having a sleepover with Mason at her mother's, they had plenty of time relish in a leisurely morning of lovemaking and breakfast in bed. Sonny figured he'd casually place the ring on the breakfast tray, but they never made it quite that far. In fact, they never made it past a few good morning kisses because before they knew it, Amanda's phone went off and Valesco was calling to say he needed her to meet him at the hospital to talk to a victim.

They barely saw each other the next few days because of the case, but he was determined to give it to her Wednesday night over a simple, yet romantic, candle lit dinner after the girls had gone to bed. That never happened, though, because Beth called saying Jim passed out and was on his way to the hospital in the ambulance, but she couldn't leave Mason, so Amanda needed to go to the hospital. Luckily, her father ended up being okay and was released after one night of observation, but the whole ordeal caused some tension between Amanda and her parents, and it wasn't the right mood for a proposal.

By the time Sunday rolled around, it was a whole week since Sonny originally planned on giving it to her. Since morning and evening plans for a proposal had been messed up, he figured that an afternoon proposal would be best this time around. By some miracle, they were both off and the girls were on their best behavior even though they'd been cooped up in the apartment most of the week due to the snow. There was a knock on the door just before Sonny was about to snatch the ring from his briefcase, and he opened the door to discover Mia and her boyfriend had stopped by for an unexpected visit. They ended up staying until the girls' bedtime, and by the time Sonny and Amanda finally had a moment alone together, his phone was ringing. He was the on-call ADA and needed go get a warrant for a case.

Things only picked up in the days that followed. There was an insane amount of prep for Richard Wheatley's trial (and extra precautions after his threat against Carisi in open court) that coincided with Christmas shopping and all of the girls' holiday activities. And before he knew it, it was like he blinked and suddenly it had been over a month since his mother gave him the ring, and he still hadn't proposed.

"That's life, though, Sonny," his father reminded him. "All those little things that come up...it's just part of life."

"You're right." Sonny nodded in agreement.

"We usually are," his mother reminded him. "Ti amo, dear. Give Amanda our love."

They all said goodbye again, and then Sonny closed his laptop with a soft sigh.

Amanda waited a few beats to calm her racing heart before she made her presence know. "Hi," she finally greeted, hoping she didn't sound too breathless.

He jumped slightly and shook his head. "Hi. How long have you been there?" He asked. "I haven't been a cop for a few years and I already am starting to lose my instincts."

"Not that long," she lied, before she had a chance to cross the room and greet him with a proper kiss, Jessie and Billie ran back into the room holding up the hand sewn and embroidered mini stockings Mrs. Carisi gave them last week.

"Momma!" Billie exclaimed.

"You're home!" Jessie added. "You can help us leave out the stuff for La Befana!"

And before she knew it, they were swept up into the hustle and bustle of getting the girls tucked in for the night. When they finally managed to settle down for the night and drink the wine and eat the biscotti they helped the girls leave near the window after Frannie's walk, she thought he would propose. It was a scene of pure domesticity. She shifted around on the couch, trying to get comfortable as she draped her favorite striped blanket over her legs. She watched with a smile as Carisi filled the stockings with the bag of goodies from his parents that had been hiding in their bedroom. He took a moment to admire his work before turning around and joining her on the couch.

"The girls will get theirs tomorrow," he began as he reached into the bag and produced a small, velvet jewelry box to hand to her. "But it wouldn't hurt to give you yours now," he smiled.

Excitedly, she opened the box and was shocked to discover it did not contain a ring. Instead, it was a necklace. A gold necklace with a small, gold horn pendant on it. "I know Billie is a little too young for hers, and we'll have to hang on to it for a bit for her, but it's tradition. Everyone in the Carisi family has one. It's an old Italian superstition... people claim it wards off the bad spirits and the il malocchio, or the evil eye," he explained. "It's supposed to bring good luck to the person wearing it."

"It's beautiful," she managed to say, running her fingers over the pendant, as she wondered if she misread what she overheard him talking to his mother about. Maybe they were talking about this necklace all along and there was no ring. After all, it had only been seven months since this change in their relationship status became intimate. But, no, a little voice in her head reminded her. Intimacy wasn't just sex. The intimacy between them had been building for seven years. It was the I got you's, I'm not going anywhere, home safe and safe home, have you eaten? - are you sleeping? Hang in there, Dominick, and you've been a grown up for awhile now, Amanda Rollins. It was all those little things that said they cared. The sex was just another layer – and a wonderfully amazing one at that.

She swallowed down her disappointment, because the words "everyone in the Carisi family has one" kept repeating in her mind. Family. He considered her and the girls part of the Carisi family and that meant so much to her. She knew deep down that was what mattered the most.

Much to her delight, however, there was a ring and a proposal. It just came two days later.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said soothingly, reaching out to wipe away her tears like he did that night on the Hudson. "I hope those are happy tears," he teased this time.

Amanda nodded. "I hoped...I thought...and then..." she couldn't get out the words between the laughter and crying combination that was over taking her in the moment. "I thought...but then you didn't...and then..."

He nodded understandingly, pushing her hair behind her ears. "I think I need to confess something..."

"Hmm?" She sniffled, pulling her gaze away from the beautiful ring on her finger to meet his handsome eyes instead.

"Contrary to what I said the other night, I didn't lose my cop instincts. I knew the minute you walked into the apartment and I know you heard Ma bring this up." He smiled at her soft, cradling her face between his hands. "I was going to give it to you that night, but I still wanted you to at least be a little bit surprised, so I decided to wait again."

She chuckled, moving to stand on her tip toes so she could wrap her arms around his neck. "I love you so much and I'm so happy that I'm gonna let that slide... for now." She quipped with a nibble to his earlobe. "We'll deal with the consequences later." She whispered seductively into his ear.

"As an attorney, I would advise myself to readily accept whatever...punishment you have in mind, Detective."

"Smart, Counselor. Very smart."