Work Text:
Sonny almost forgot about the celebration of Kat getting a commendation for how she handled the DV case last month. His day was a whirlwind of court appointments — arraigned Fin's arrest for the statutory rape case, sat as the second chair to supervise Parker on his first child molestation trial and continued with jury selection for the he-said-she-said rape case he was currently trying.
They're all already there, laughing loudly when he gets to the restaurant, a round of drinks in front of them, even a glass of scotch in front of an empty chair next to Amanda.
"Sorry I'm late," he greets them and gives Amanda a pointed look as he sits down next to her. They agreed to keep the change in their relationship status under wraps for now and here she was saving him a seat, ordering a drink for him before he even got there. A faint roll of her eyes and an even fainter smile flash through her face and he thinks he might become the one giving away clues tonight.
"Don't worry about it. Glad you could make it," Kat says when he turns his attention to the wider group around the table and he raises his glass to toast her.
It is easy to not get distracted by Amanda for the first two hours — there are Kat's non-cop friends present and they match the squad's stories about Kat at work with plenty of their own about Kat outside of work. There's food and drinks and he enjoys himself more than at Fin and Phoebe's non-wedding even when he has to pay this time.
It is harder to not get distracted by Amanda when they've knocked down a few rounds; the pandemic lowering his tolerance significantly. Her left hand is under the table when suddenly, her fingers are dancing a featherlight dance up and down his thigh and he hears the blood pumping in his ears.
He's no stranger to sitting across from her, lingering on a flirty remark, looking at her face. There was an invisible boundary present between them, that he was acutely aware of, even when alcohol loosened his limbs and threw away thinking before speaking. They put a distance between them by sitting across from each other.
Her choice of saving for him the seat next to her when they came to the restaurant feels deliberate. A subtle signal to the outside world that she wants him by her side.
She puts the whole hand down, just above his knee, and squeezes when he didn’t acknowledge the featherlight touches. She’s a woman on a mission tonight, he realizes, and while he doesn’t disagree with the premise, he’s not sure he can keep his composure until they all part ways — besides Kat’s friends aren’t showing any signs of calling it the night any time soon.
He gives her a sideway look, smirks and looks down to let her know he’s aware of her actions and she has the decency to look a little sheepish, despite the gleam in her eye that says she’s not sorry or ashamed for teasing him. He’s relieved she doesn’t push further, but she is the one calling it a night less than an hour later, getting up from her chair, thanking everyone for the nice evening and proclaiming that she needs to get home to her daughters. He wants to go with her but doesn’t know how to do it without attracting too much attention on them, and she must sense it. She squeezes his shoulder on her way out, reassurance that it’s okay if he doesn’t leave with her now, that she’s gonna be expecting him later.
And she is already in bed, but still awake, reading news on her phone, when he gets there. She puts it on her bedside table when he comes into the bedroom and unabashedly watches him undress. He feels a blush spread from his cheeks down to his chest — he’s sobered up somewhat since she left the restaurant — leans down to kiss her for the first time today.
“I missed you today,” she murmurs as he’s plopping onto the bed, wrapping his arms around her.
“You saw me maybe an hour ago…” he chuckles, “sat right…” he lets his hand travel further down her side with each word, “next…to…” landing on her thigh, mirroring the spot where hers was earlier in the evening, “me.” He’s strung taut when her lips brush his, but she doesn’t kiss him.
She pulls away just enough to look him in the eyes, “I know. But you were gone early in the morning, and I haven’t seen you all day and then…at the restaurant, it was hard to sit there and be close to you, and not kiss you.”
She’s surprised him once again — knocked the breath out of his lungs with her words instead of actions this time.
“There’s nothing stopping you now,” he says and waits for a beat before closing the distance between them. She puts her hands around his neck, pulls him close to her. They break apart for air, foreheads touching, and she tells him she thinks she wants to tell Olivia and Fin.
She keeps him breathless tonight with her words and out of his mind with her touches. He knows, from their earlier conversations, that they’re serious and about this, but he still needs to hear her reassurance on letting their closest friends know.
There’s a thought that swims through his mind as he’s falling asleep — that they should invite them over for a dinner party, with the kids hanging out and not just the adults having fun — that he hopes he’s going to remember when he wakes up.