"If I go there's just no telling how far I'll-"

"Jess? Can ya do me a favor and turn that down just a hair?" Sonny glanced over the top of a brief at the first grader. Jesse was stretched out on her belly on his lounger, iPad resting against her denim jacket. "Or find your headphones?"

"I wanna be Moana." Jesse ignored his request, never taking her eyes off the screen. "Maybe Mommy can take me to the Disney store. You could be Maui."

Huh? Sonny set the paperwork down. "I can be huh what now?"

"At the dance," Jesse said. "At school."

"What dance, Jess?" He got up and tapped the iPad screen, pausing the movie. His daughter scooted so he could sit down beside her, then crawled into his lap.

"The Knight For a Princess Dance," Jesse said. She bit her lip. "Mommy forgot to tell you." She looked down at the floor, her legs swinging.

"Well, you know, Mommy's been busy at school. All of her students are taking really big tests right now," Sonny covered for his wife. "Tell me about this dance, huh?"

"It's at school. It's for daddies and daughters. Everybody gets really dressed up, like a Disney princess, and then you can get your picture taken and there's food and there's music…" Jesse sighed. "Bet you have to work, huh?"

Sonny mentally ran through his calendar. "What day is it?"

"Ummm…Thursday?"

Tomorrow. Crap. "It's pretty short notice, Jess, I dunno…" He felt awful, and a little upset with Amanda, but he also knew it probably had genuinely slipped her mind. You're also supposed to be checkin' Jess's take-home folder, Carisi, so this is also on you, he reminded himself. "Hey," he said. "Tell ya what. Lemme look at my calendar one more time and I promise you that I'll do my best."

"…Kay."

"And don't be mad with Mommy. Daddy dropped the ball on this too. I'm sorry we've been so busy."

"It's okay," Jesse said softly. "You're adults. You hafta work. That's your job."

Sonny tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, but we also have to make sure we don't miss important things too. And this is important to you."

"I never gotta go last year," Jesse said, and Sonny's heart broke. Of course she hadn't…not if it's for dads and daughters. He thought about their Disney trip-how the girls and Amanda had never been able to afford something like that for the three of them before. Sonny had asked his parents for a little bit of help on that one. He wasn't afraid of asking for help on this. He gave Jesse a hug, handed the iPad back to her, and hit Play. Then, he went back to his desk to look at his calendar…and call in some favors.

"Do you have to go tonight?" Amanda sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her husband. Sonny straightened his royal blue tie in the mirror before he turned around. "Or at least…can you cut the evening short?"

"Sure can't," Sonny laughed. "Glad to know this look is workin' though." He shrugged into his gray suit jacket and Amanda slid off the bed in her yoga pants and his Fordham hoodie. She buttoned the jacket and smoothed out some invisible wrinkles. "I look okay though?" he asked, suddenly worried. "I mean, it's Jesse's first daddy-daughter dance. Like, I don't gotta go in lookin' like what's-his-name from Enchanted right?"

"I think you get to skip the embroidered jacket and knee-high boots," Amanda confirmed. She bit her lip and looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "Although now that you mention it…"

"I love you," Sonny said, "but no." He pulled her into a kiss that left her breathless, and then headed out into the girls' room. "Jess?"

She hopped off the bed in a sparkly purple dress with an ombre purple and blue skirt. Amanda had bought her a tiara from the Disney store after talking her out of dressing like Moana. "We match!" Jesse said happily, pointing to his tie.

"You look beautiful, Princess," Sonny told her, swinging her into his arms. "Let's get Mommy to take a picture, huh?"

"I wanna go," Billie pouted on her bed.

"You and I are going to see the new Little Mermaid movie," Amanda said, coming in and handing Sonny's camera to him. "Let's get one of Daddy and Jesse, and then one with you too, how about that?"

"'kay…" Billie said sullenly. "I wanna be a first grader."

"Not too much longer," Sonny said, grimacing at how fast they were growing up. He set Jesse down next to him and Amanda fluffed her skirt, then snapped a photo of the two of them. "Hey I gotcha something," he told Jesse, ducking out into the kitchen. He returned with a rainbow crazy daisy and presented it to her on one knee. Amanda grabbed a photo. He offered his oldest an elbow. "Are you ready, Princess Jesse?"

"Ready Prince Daddy!" Jesse announced, eliciting a smile from her parents.

Sonny kissed Amanda on the head and Billie on the cheek. "Have fun at your movie, sweetheart," he told Billie. "Stay awake through it, I wanna hear everything about it and listen to every single song."

"Okay, Uncle Sonny," Billie said.

Sonny grinned. He took Jesse's hand and winked at Amanda. "Back by midnight," he promised.

"Midnight, huh?"

He shrugged. "I don't make the rules."