"Hey." Sonny says when I answer the door to my apartment. He's wearing a suit like most of the times I've seen him before and his hair is slicked back as usual too. He's got a smile on his face that is contagious.

"Hi Sonny." I say back, opening the door a bit further "you look nice, as usual." I say like an idiot.

He chuckles "You look amazing. These are for you." He pulls his hand out from his behind his back and hands me a bouquet of Sunflowers.

I take them from him with my cheeks flushing red "they are beautiful. Thank you." I say before turning around to put them in a vase of water. "Can I get you anything?" I ask him as I try to quickly put them down.

"Nah, I'm okay." He responds and waits for me at the door. "Ready?" He asks, opening his arm once I am back at the door with my jacket on.

"Ready." I accept and wrap my hand around his arm, the butterflies still in my stomach from when I called him the day before. "It was really nice of your sister to invite me back over. I really like her." I tell him as we walk down to the car.

He opens the door for me and answers once inside and buckling up "she's a real pistol. When I told her you said you'd let me know she would not stop texting me asking what I did to scare you off." He laughs as he pulls away from the street.

"I just had to think about-" I stop, not wanting to tell him what Rollins said. "Nothing. I'm here now." He eyes me suspiciously so I quickly change the subject "those sunflowers were beautiful but there not exactly in season."

"I picked them up special. I know this little shop in Queens." He tells me.

"Queens?" I eye him.

He just gives me a look as if to say 'why not' and I decide not to ask further. On the way to Bella's apartment we talk about our favorite kinds of food, music, television, and books. We both like pop music but have a soft spot for old jazz as well. He binge watches reality TV when he's at home cooking and loves to make anything with pasta. He rings up to her apartment and she quickly buzzes us in. We walk up and knock on the door. She answers it in a huff "Hey Dominick, Hi Addison. Come in!" She rushes back to the kitchen to take care of whatever is beeping.

"Thanks for having us over Bella." I kind of call into the kitchen after her. Sonny takes my jacket and leaves to put it away. I make my way to the kitchen "can I help you with anything?" I offer.

She gives me a job to do without even turning "will ya mash those potatoes?" She points to the pot of boiling water on the stove. I quickly turn the gas oven off and remove it to the sink that's already waiting with a colander. I pour the potatoes in to drain and return them to the pot to get them mashed.

I look around the kitchen counters for the potato mashers but can't see it "Bella, what do you want me to mash them with?" I ask her, as she lifts her baby into her arms to try and sooth her from crying.

"Sonny! Can ya get the masher from the drawer!" She calls out.

Sonny quickly comes into the kitchen and in 2 swift movements the masher is plugged in and in front of me. "Let me." He offers to take care of it for me.

"No, that's alright. I don't mind." I say back, taking it from his hand.

"Suit yourself. Tommy gets real cranky if there are lumps in his potatoes." He smirks at me.

Bella quickly jumps in "don't lie, that's you who can't stand lumps!"

Sonny winks at me with the same smirk before walking to his sister to take Anastasia from her "come here princess!" He coos and leaves the kitchen.

"So, Dominick told me what happened at court. Are you relieved?" She asks as she takes veggies out of the oven.

I add the butter, milk and salt while answering her "I am. It's been a whirlwind month but it's finally starting to feel like life again." I tell her.

"Yea, Tommy was raped before, took a long time before things with us were good again." She says. She sort of chuckles "still so weird thinkin' bout him being raped. I mean -" She trails off.

"I'm sorry that happened to you guys." I tell her solemnly, looking down at the machine in my hands. I didn't know that about Tommy, and it's weird to think about having something so dark in common with him. I take the silence as a cue to start mashing and turn the device onto 5 to get started.

Tommy arrives home from work just as dinner is done. We all sit down at the table and hold hands for the prayer. Sonny says it "Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord." I wait for the Amen but he doesn't say it, instead he takes another breathe and adds on "and thank you Lord for being with us through these tough times and seeing that your light shine through. Amen." He lifts his eyes up from his bowed head and looks to me.

My stomach knots as I repeat the words "amen" along with Bella and Tommy, staring at Sonny as he stares at me. "So, what are your plans now that you are free?" Tommy asks while plating his dish with some steak.

Sonny jumps in before I could answer "she's always been free Tommy." He kind of shakes his head at the choice of words his future brother in law used.

"Well, all I'm sayin' is, after I faced my rapist in court, I felt a whole lot free-er." He starts to eat his food.

"It's alright Sonny." I quickly add on before he could argue "it's weird, it's kind of like I'm starting my whole life over again." I say to them like I said to my therapist.

"I hope we're involved in that new life of yours. You're a real good person Addison, you and Sonny are real cute." She says looking at her brother with a grin.

"Alright, enough of that Bella." Sonny looks to me with an apologetic look.

"I'm just sayin', she's a lot better then other girls you brought home." She quickly adds on before taking a bite of her food to hide her smile.

He sort of laughs loudly and awkwardly "she's not someone I just brought home Bella, come on."

I can't tell if he's annoyed, embarrassed or what so I try to ease the situation "seriously, it's not like I've met the parents or anything." I wink to Bella who smiles back and I start eating my own meal.

After dinner the four of us sit in their living room and play monopoly. The game goes on for 2 hours, only ending once Sonny gets frustrated enough to push the game aside, moving everyone's pieces off the board and forfeiting. The 2 of us say goodbye to Bella and Tommy and leave. In the car ride home Sonny says "I'm glad you came over tonight, it was a lot of fun." His eyes are on the road but he glances over, the moonlight still illuminating his blue eyes.

"I'm glad I did too, it's good to get back out there." I say to him.

"So, can we go out to dinner again? Just us next time?" He asks slyly.

"Like a date?" I ask him.

"Yah, like a date." He answers. I bite my lower lip thinking of how to answer him. "What?" He pushes "I can't be the only one who feels something here." He says. When I don't answer him though, his eyes start to dart faster from the road to me "or am I?"

"No, you're not." I quickly ease his worry "it's just, what if IAB finds out you're dating a victim?" I ask him.

He raises his eyebrows towards me "well one, it's just a date. Two, IAB? victim? Who have you been talking to?" I bite harder on my lower lip to keep from telling him about the conversation had with Rollins. "Was it Finn?" He asks. I focus my eyes on the road and he keeps trying to guess "Nah, he'd tell me to do whatever I'd wanna do. It was Amanda, wasn't it?" He pushes. "Damn it Rollins." I hear him utter under his breath "is that why that night in the hotel you said what you said, cause she told you to stay away?"

I nod a little to confirm and softly say "she said you're too good for yourself and that you'd want to take care of me, and that it could ruin your career."

He chuckles "of course she would" his eyes roll. "Adds, I'm not worried about IAB or losing my job. You're not a victim to me, you're just a girl that I want to get to know more about, someone I really like."

I nod slowly, trying to let his words sink in "then sure, I'd enjoy going out on a date with you tomorrow." I agree. When we pull up to my apartment building he quickly pulls in front of the building, putting his flashers on "you don't have to walk me up." I tell him as he goes to open the door.

"Nonsense" he quickly mutters and gets out and helps me out of the car. We get upstairs and to my door and I unlock it before turning to face him.

"Thank you, Sonny." I say, my stomach filling with butterflies at how this might end.

He smiles back at me "thank you, it was a great night." He leans down to kiss me and as his lips get closer to reaching mine the memory of that night happening right behind me quickly flash through my mind. I don't know if he figured out what was wrong or was planning on this anyway but he kissed me on the cheek and whispers "goodnight Addison." Before turning and walking away