"Snake. Lion. Butterfly!"
Amanda watched Billie so she didn't fall forward out of her stroller seat. Her youngest was leaning forward as far as she could go, pointing out all of the different animals carved into the Tree of Life. "Elephant. Hippo!" She craned her head back as far as it would go, watching the figures climb their way up the tree.
"Rewatching The Lion King eight times a day is paying off," Sienna grinned. "She'd be happy just to stand here and do this all day."
"You're not wrong. We wanna go see the real animals though, right kiddo?" Amanda adjusted the sun shade over Billie and then walked her over to where Jesse and Sonny were near an enclosure watching some very pink flamingoes.
"Mingoes!"
"They're flamingoes, Billie," Jesse told her little sister.
"Close enough," Sonny said, snapping a picture of her and her sister together. He straightened, and looked at Amanda. "Where to first?"
"Animals!"
"That would be one vote for the Safari?" Sonny grinned. He slipped an arm around Amanda's waist. "One of us certainly looks the part today."
The group had spent most of the morning playing around at the hotel pool. A midafternoon rain shower had derailed plans to hit the park earlier, so they'd stuck around the resort playing in the arcade and having lunch. When the weather finally cleared out, they'd hopped the transfer to Animal Kingdom.
"I think we'd better, if you still want to hit that dinner reservation," Amanda pointed out. She started pushing the stroller at almost a jog heading up the path. "Come on, girls, let's go to Africa!" The three of them took off, Jesse singing "I Just Can't Wait to be King" to her heart's content.
Sonny paused, and pulled his camera. At a break in the afternoon traffic, he pressed the shutter, cementing the three of them with the Tree of Life looming ahead on film. Then, he smiled at Sienna. "Aren't ya glad you only have to worry about babysittin' two of them tonight?"
"It's a Disney thing," Sienna shrugged. "Adults turn into little kids. I mean, I think you had more fun on the teacups yesterday in Magic Kingdom than the kids did."
He laughed. "Yeah, that's fair."
"Mr. Carisi, can I ask you a question?" Sienna glanced around to make sure Amanda and the girls weren't in earshot.
Sonny nodded, piqued by her change in tone. "Yeah, course you can. What's up?"
"Well, you guys have been 'hanging out'-" Sienna used the air quotes with her newly Disney manicured fingers, "-a lot. So are you guys like, official now?"
"Yeah. You could say that, I guess." The thought made him smile. It did feel really good not to have to sneak around to find places to make out, or conveniently plan lunch breaks.
She smiled. "Cool. So, when are you gonna propose?" She gestured to them. "Little bit of Disney magic for the moment, maybe?"
He laughed it off, wondering if she was catching the heat creeping up the back of his neck to his ears that had nothing to do with the humid late afternoon. "Think we just need some time to get used to bein' officially a thing. There's a lot that goes into it with our jobs, with the girls…"
Sienna nodded. "Nope, I get that. But just so you know…if you did propose, I'm pretty sure Ms. Rollins wouldn't say no." She flashed him a smile, and ran to catch up with the girls, leaving Sonny staring at the Tree of Life.
Amanda knew Sonny was good with kids. She'd seen him with her girls. She'd seen him work with victims, work with their families. She'd seen him with his own family.
But as they sat in the dark hall watching the Cirque-like performance that was Festival of the Lion King, she wished she had his camera so she could get photos of him, arm stretched out like an elephant's trunk, bellowing along with their section, making the girls laugh hysterically.
The girls were having a great time. Billie kept crawling out of Sienna's lap to stand on her own in the bleachers to act along with their section's leader, and Jesse knew the words to every single song from the soundtrack.
This is your life, Amanda Rollins. She had to keep reminding herself of that. She still wondered how she'd gotten so lucky with Dominick Carisi, Jr.
The song changed, and Sonny glanced over, caught her looking. He smiled at her like he wished there wasn't two little girls and a teenager between them. The kid parts of Disney were great. The girls had loved walking through the jungle trek, and had sat enthralled the entire safari ride. Jesse had been just too short to go on Kali River Rapids, but Amanda had stayed with her and Billie while Sonny and Sienna rode it, and they'd gotten soaked as they stood over the bridge above the rapids of the ride.
"Uncle Sonny," Jesse said, tugging on his arm when the show was over and the lights came up, "that was the best part of the day."
"Even better than the giraffes?"
She bit her lip. "Um. Maybe second best," she declared.
"I'm glad you're having fun, Jess."
"Are you having fun, Mommy?" Jesse looked up at her mother, who was hefting Billie into her arms so they wouldn't lose her in the crowd.
Amanda tucked a piece of Jesse's hair behind her ear. "The best," she assured her.
Outside, lights were just coming on around the park as evening arrived. "All right, guys," Amanda said, gathering her daughters together. "You guys are going to go back to the hotel with Sienna, and guess what?"
"What?" Billie asked.
"Tonight at the hotel they're having s'mores!"
"Yay!" Billie smiled widely. The Rollins girls had a favorite snack, and since most New York landlords frowned on open flames in apartments, Amanda had taken a page from when she was a kid and showed them how to make them in the microwave.
"And the best part," Sienna told Jesse and Billie, "is that we get to have them with our bedtime story around a real campfire!"
"Oh cool!" Jesse pronounced. She looked up at her mother. "Are you gonna come too?"
"Your mom and I have our own plans for tonight," Sonny told her. "But you guys are gonna have the best time with Sienna and your s'mores."
Amanda kissed both of her girls. "You two behave for Sienna, and we will see you later."
"Can Uncle Sonny kiss us goodnight tonight?" Billie asked.
Sonny bent down so he was eye level with her. "You know, we might be out pretty late…you might be in bed already," he told her. "Soo…." He kissed the top of her head. "How about you get this one now?"
Billie sighed. "Okayyy…."
"You guys have fun tonight," Sienna said. "Come on kiddos, let's go see if we can get a Mickey Bar before we get on the bus!"
"Oooh, ice cream and s'mores!" Jesse gasped. "Bye Mommy! Bye Uncle Sonny!"
Amanda laughed. "How's that for priorities?"
"Sienna's braver than us," Sonny said. "That's a lotta sugar for the two of them." He glanced at his watch. "Hey we've gotta hop a bus of our own."
"I thought our dinner reservation was here?"
He grinned. "Oh don't worry, we'll be back." Sonny offered her his arm. "Come on. That dress is fabulous by the way."
"Yeah?" She glanced at his white polo and dark jeans. "I feel pretty overdressed compared to you."
Sonny winked. "I'll save my response to that when we're not in a crowd of kids and Mickey might overhear."
"Wow." Amanda slid down into the curved booth, eyes taking in all of the intricate detail of Sanaa. Sonny slid in on the other side of her, slipping a hand into hers. "This is amazing," she complimented their server.
"Can I start you off with a drink?"
"Yeah, she'll have a Malawi Mango Margarita," Sonny replied, "and I'll do a Whiskey Breeze."
"Both great choices. I'll be back with those shortly!"
"It's like another vacation inside the vacation," Amanda said. She leaned her head onto Sonny's shoulder. "In two days I've been to Florida and Africa." She looked up at him. "This is amazing. The girls are loving it, they're having so much fun."
"And you?" Suddenly self-conscious, Sonny leaned back. "You weren't lyin' to Jesse earlier, were you?"
"No!" Amanda sat up, staring at him incredulously. "Hey. Self-doubt is my play…where's this comin' from?"
He ran a hand through his hair. "I….okay it's stupid," he admitted. "I thought maybe you'd think I was tryin' too hard, I mean, since we just made this all official and now we're here, and-"
He paused awkwardly as their server came back with their cocktails. "Need a few more minutes?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind," Amanda replied. Their server nodded and moved to go check on another table. Amanda returned her attention to Sonny. "You were saying?"
He sighed. "That was it," he said.
"Good. My turn." Amanda glanced around, hoping they weren't being as loud as she thought they were. Thankfully, nobody else in the restaurant seemed to notice the two of them. "Sonny, you have done more for me and my girls in the past five years than anybody in my family, anybody in my life…" And there's the self-doubt. Remember, you told Al and Declan you didn't need them. This isn't on them, it's on you. "The girls adore you. I adore you. And after you almost getting shot-twice-and me with Bucci…and you movin' to the DA's office and everything else..." She slid her fingers into his and kissed the top of his hand. "You said marriage was a lot like a partnership, and we're not there, and I don't know if we'll ever get there, but a partner watches their partner's back and I just…"
"You know I got you, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah. And I've got you." She shook her head. "Did I even…did we even solve that argument?"
Sonny chuckled. "Um. You know, I don't know. How 'bout we table it for now, because now I really wanna drink."
Amanda picked up her margarita. "With a drink this size, we better look into some food 'cause otherwise neither of us is gonna make it back to the hotel."
"Sure we will, Donald's our designated driver."
He clinked his glass to hers.
The resort was fairly quiet when they returned, save for a group of teenagers at the pool. Amanda was feeling satisfied, and happy, and maybe slightly tipsy, Sonny's arm around her waist as they walked back to their room. She stopped them right outside their door.
"The girls are in Sienna's room."
Sonny produced the key card from his wallet. "Good," he murmured, fumbling for the door handle as he tangled his other hand in her hair. They nearly fell into the room as the door opened. He wouldn't have minded taking his intentions to the floor, but the bed would be more comfortable. He threw the chain lock on the door and the deadbolt, and he and Amanda made their way across the room to the bed.
"Been waitin' all day to take that dress off," Sonny whispered, his fingers reaching for the zipper in the back.
"I knew you'd like it," Amanda spoke up from where she was making her way down his neck to his collarbone, her hands untucking his polo and reaching for the button on his jeans. "Sienna's got good taste."
"I knew bringin' her along was a good idea." The dress pooled to the floor, joining his shirt on the ground.
"Boots."
"I'll get there." He started making his way down her body, trailing kisses as he went. She shivered the farther down he went, heard her new boots thunk to the floor.
"Get your ass back up here, Counselor."
Sonny slipped a hand under her shoulders to bring her up to meet his lips. Amanda's arms twined around his back. "I'm takin' all the time I need to cross-examine you."
Amanda dug her fingernails into his back and he sucked in a breath. "We don't have time for this," she cut in, rolled him onto his back.
He looked up at her, slid her hair behind her shoulder. "Whatever you say, Detective."
"You're damn right."