"Hey. When's Jesse's next school break?"

Amanda moved the phone away from her ear so she could scroll through her calendar. "Aren't you supposed to be in court?"

"We're on a fifteen. I got about 11 minutes."

"Well I'm so pleased you picked me to spend those 11 minutes with," she teased. "Okay. Next break looks like it's Spring Break in April. Why?"

"You got time saved up?"

Amanda tucked the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she pulled another t-shirt from the laundry basket. "I've got a few days. We're not as short handed now with Velasco. Again, why?"

"Judge is back. I gotta go. Shoot me those dates. You in the mood for company tonight?"

"I'm always in the mood for you, Counselor."

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. "Damn it, and now I gotta go back in there thinkin' about that."

"Go get 'em." Amanda hung up the phone and tossed it on the cushion. Frannie started, then rolled onto her back into the back of the couch and fell back asleep. Amanda shook her head at the pit bull. "You're no help at all." As if to punctuate the statement, Billie woke up with a wail in the bedroom. Amanda sighed as she set the laundry basket in her spot and got up to go comfort her youngest.

Sonny pulled his SUV up outside Jesse's kindergarten and hit the hazards. He jogged up the stairs and signed in with the after-school volunteer, then made his way down the hall to Jesse's classroom. Jesse was playing in the back with a couple of little girls on the carpet, laughing as they danced some dolls around.

This kid's adorable.

Jesse's eyes glanced up and caught him standing at the front of the room. "Uncle Sonny!" she squealed, dropping her doll and sprinting for the front of the room. She launched herself at him, and he picked her up and propped her on his hip. "Heya, sweetheart," he greeted her. "Good day?"

"Best day!" she exclaimed. "'Cause you came to get me!"

"Best part of my day too, kiddo," Sonny agreed. "Go get your coat and your backpack, huh?" He set her down and she ran for her things, returning with her coat on and a piece of paper in her hands. "Look!" She thrust the paper into Sonny's hands. "I drew this!"

"Look at that." Sonny took her hand and examined the picture with his other hand. "Okay, so that's your mom, right?" he said. "And let's see…must be you and Billie. And Frannie."

"And you!" Jesse smiled up at him. "I even drew your suitcase!"

He laughed. "It's a briefcase, Jess," he explained. Outside, he buckled her into her booster seat in the back and then pulled out into traffic. The ride to Amanda's took about twenty minutes with traffic, and Jess sang along with the Moana soundtrack the entire way. He barely unbuckled the seat belt before Jesse was halfway up the stairs to her apartment, and he had to run to catch up. "Momma!" she announced in the hallway, knocking on the door. "Me an' Uncle Sonny are home!"

Home. He had to shake his head. I love the sound of that.

Amanda unlocked the door and Jesse flew inside, hugging her mother around the legs. "Uncle Sonny, where's my picture?" she asked.

"In your backpack." He kicked off his shoes and loosened his tie, thankful to be off the clock. He tossed his jacket over the back of a kitchen chair, and kissed Amanda on the forehead. "Hi."

"Hi." Amanda accepted the picture from her daughter. "Oh wow, Jess, that's so good! Why don't you go stick that up on the fridge?" she told Jesse, glancing at Sonny as she did. He shot her a smile.

"Jess decided on Chinese tonight," he told Amanda. "I put in the order in the car. Should be here-" The downstairs door buzzed. "-shortly," he finished.

"And then are you gonna tell me why you needed Jesse's vacation days?"

"After," he promised.

"What do you have planned, Sonny?"

He grinned. "You're a lousy detective right now. You're not gettin' anything out of me."

She shook her head. "And you're being deliberately vague. Too much more of this and I'm gonna treat you as a hostile witness."

Sonny smirked. "That a promise?"

After most of Billie's rice had ended up on the floor or on the table and nowhere near her mouth, and Jesse had managed to sweet talk Sonny out of all of the honey chicken, the four of them split a pint of Ben & Jerry's Fudge Brownie. When the ice cream had been split out into dishes, Amanda looked at Sonny. "It's 'after'."

He nodded, poking Billie in the nose with a chocolate-covered spoon. "You're right. Okay. So I was thinking maybe we get out of the city for a little while."

"Getting out of the city does not go well for either of us," Amanda reminded him.

"You're not wrong. But I'm thinkin' really out of the city." He winked at Jesse. "Who here wants to go meet Mickey Mouse?"

"Mickey!" Billie clapped her hands. "Mickey Mouse!"

"Mickey!" Jesse echoed, her jaw practically on the table. "Yes yes yes yes!"

Amanda stared at him. "What did you do?"

"Four tickets to Orlando leaving Wednesday after school and gettin' back Sunday morning," he said. "And a Disney park per day once we get there."

"Do you…are the girls even old enough to appreciate everything?" Amanda's head was swimming.

He shrugged. "Bella and Tommy splurged and took my niece last year. Said apart from the flight, she loved every minute of it."

"When are we going to see Mickey?" Jesse demanded. She looked at her mother. "Are we going to see Mickey?" Her eyes got even wider. "Could we go see Moana?"

"Please?" Billie added. Sonny wasn't sure if she was asking for more ice cream or if she was asking about the vacation, but he wasn't going to speculate. A good lawyer knows not to ask a question they don't know the answer to!

"I…" Amanda leaned back, shaking her head. She looked between her two girls, then to Sonny.

"I might've already cleared your schedule with Liv," he admitted. "She's gonna see if Khaldun can fill in. And I might've already bought a ticket for Sienna to come with so that we can sneak off one night on our own." He reached across the table and slipped his fingers into hers. "So whaddya say?" he asked. "You, me, and Mickey?"

"Mickey!" Billie repeated, throwing her hands in the air. Her spoon slipped out of her hands and flew across the room. Frannie hopped off the couch to go retrieve it.

Amanda laughed. "If I don't say yes, I'll have a mutiny on my hands." She squeezed his fingers. "Yes."

"Yayyyyy!" Jesse cheered.