The last time Sonny Carisi had been at a school dance, it was junior prom. Boy, have schools stepped up the decorating game since then. The junior class's height of decorating had been pink and silver crepe streamers twisted across the gym, white Christmas lights threaded into a canopy, and a lot of 80s throwback slow songs.

As he stepped into the multi-purpose room of Jesse's elementary school, her hand in his, he had to stop and take a second. "Wow," he said.

The room looked like Disney had come in overnight. He couldn't imagine what the PTA had spent on this, but he was glad they did. The lights were off in half the gym, plywood and cardboard pillars framing off a dance floor. The backdrop was a plastic party backdrop with a castle on the back. Over by the tables of food, it looked more like an enchanted forest, like the Alice in Wonderland picnic had jumped off the page. Hidden speakers, he guessed either hidden behind the backdrops or Bluetooth, were blasting Disney soundtracks. Dads, older brothers, and even a few grandfathers, were dancing and twirling little girls around.

He glanced down at Jesse, who was staring wide-eyed at everything. "What do you think, Princess?" he asked her.

She tugged on his hand and he bent down. "I love it," Jesse whispered in his ear.

His heart melted. "Okay, what do you wanna do first? It's your night."

"Ummmm….." Jesse bit her lip and looked around the room. Her eyes lit up. "It's Lucy!" she announced. She pointed across the dance floor where Lucy, dressed in a purple Rapunzel dress, was dancing with her father Troy. Sonny had met him a couple of times because the girls were such good friends. "Daddy, can we go dance with Lucy?"

"Course we can." He let himself get tugged onto the dance floor. Troy's husband Caleb was a Broadway costumer, so he had gone all out for the both of them. Troy was in a pair of brown pants, knee-high boots, a white shirt and blue vest to match Lucy's Rapunzel dress…which, to Sonny's eye, looked handmade….and movie accurate.

"Hey, Mr. Carisi," Troy greeted him. "Hey, Jess! Your dress is fabulous!"

"How's it goin' Troy," Sonny greeted him. "Caleb couldn't make it?"

"Tech rehearsal tonight," Troy shrugged. "Luckily, Luce has a two for one in the dad department!"

"Lucky kiddo," Sonny agreed, grinning at Lucy and Jesse as they spun each other in a circle to a song he thought he recognized from Aladdin.

Troy smiled. "It's awesome that Jesse's here and you could make it," he told him. "I hear next year they're talking about changing it up so it's just a royal ball for all the kids, so it kinda makes it special that it's the last Princess dance. They had the Prince one a few weeks ago."

"Oh, that's awesome," Sonny proclaimed. "Next year I might have to let Caleb hook me up with something a little more…fantastical."

Troy eyed him. "You'd make a pretty good Prince Eric," he said. "Caleb probably knows where the Eric costume from the stage show is hiding. I'll ask him."

"That'd be a little much-oof." Sonny was cut off by Jesse yanking him onto the dance floor. He waved at Troy, "Guess that's my cue!" The song changed to one of Jesse's favorites from Moana and Sonny danced her around in a basic two step, her tiny sandals on top of his dress shoes. Jesse laughed.


"We should take one of these home for Billie," Jesse said, picking up a cupcake that was decorated with a frosting crown.

"We can definitely do that," Sonny nodded. "Careful of your dress," he warned as she tried to shove an entire chocolate cupcake into her mouth at once. "Here, lemme show you a trick." He unwrapped his cupcake and carefully tore the bottom off the cupcake. Then, he plopped it down over the top of the frosting, creating a frosting sandwich. "Ta da!"

"It's like a cupcake Oreo!" Jesse laughed. He helped her separate the bottom of hers from the top and squished it over the pink frosting. She licked some of the frosting out of the middle of the sandwich before taking a bite. "This is the best night," she proclaimed. "Thank you, Daddy."

Sonny brushed some frosting off her cheek with a finger. "You're welcome, Jess," he told her.


Amanda shifted Billie to one arm while she unlocked the apartment door and pushed it open.

"Hey-oh," Sonny said, seeing Billie crashed in her arms. "Guess I don't get to hear how the movie was, huh?"

"Oh she wants to be a mermaid now," Amanda confirmed. She kicked the door shut with her foot and Sonny took Billie from her to lay her down in the bedroom. Jesse rolled over in her sleep when he came in, but didn't wake up.

He came back out and pulled Amanda against him on the couch. "Movie good?" he asked.

"Movie good," Amanda replied. "I spoiled her a little bit, we sprung for popcorn and juice, but I stopped by Duane Reade and we smuggled some M&Ms into the theatre."

"Oh my wife is breakin' the cardinal law of movie theatres?"

She smacked him lightly in the chest. "I thought that was 'don't put your feet on the seat.'"

He looked down at her, completely serious. "Oh, no, smuggling candy is a felony."

"Well you can't testify against me anyway," Amanda said, snuggling into his side. "How was the dance?"

"Like bein' in a Disney movie," Sonny confirmed. "Troy says hi. You shoulda seen him and Lucy, it was like they'd stepped off an animator's tablet."

"They always go above and over. Kind of like you," Amanda said.

"Me?" Sonny played with her hair absently. "Whaddya mean?"

"You literally moved heaven and earth to get to that dance with her tonight," Amanda reminded him. "She's never gonna forget that. You were her Prince Charming tonight."

He smiled softly. "Oh yeah?"

Amanda tangled her fingers in his. "Yeah, partner."

Sonny leaned back against the armrest and closed his eyes, Amanda resting on his chest. "Here's to happily ever after," Sonny whispered in her ear.