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“I never said I hate cats” Amanda complained as the lift came to a halt at the squad room floor.
“Well why do you care that I am looking after Mia’s cat for a few days” Dominic teased amused by her outrage, following her to her desk.
Amanda sat down at her desk and started to open up her pc. “She lives in a college dorm and it’s nowhere near the end of semester, it’s not a few days” Amanda rolled her eyes at his smirking face and turned to face her desktop as he sat at the edge of her desk. This conversation was going to end up with her adopting a cat. She hated cats.
“She said she was going to bring it back to Connecticut at the weekend” Dominick explained as he sat on the edge of her desk. That was unlikely.
Amanda scoffed, not looking up from her computer. “I have met Teresa once and I can tell you she is not going to take in a stray cat that Mia rescued from a bunch of freshman”
Carisis laughed at her very accurate take on his sister: “That’s true, but Mia can get her Dad to agree to anything. He will take in the cat”
“Mia’s Dad isn’t the only one she has wrapped around her little finger” she complained. The man in front of her gave into every whim his niece had, especially since she had returned to college in the city.
“Yeah but you love that about me, I’m completely at the mercy of the women I love” he teased. He was right about that. She loved the way he loved her and her girls.
New tactic Amanda decided “You're going to get attached to the cat and not want to give it back” Amanda warned. His soft heart was already a goner for the scraggly haired stray. She could tell from the numerous pictures he had sent her this morning.
“No I won’t that thing is feral and mean ” Dominick scoffed half heartedly. The cat was adorably angry at the world. “I only grow attached to feral and mean blonde women from Georgia” he leaned forward pulling at the arm of Amanda computer chair until her whole body moved a few inches closer to him.
“Stop being cute” Amanda mock glared, turning back to her computer. Pulling herself back his proximity did nothing for her resolve. She would not be convinced by his aftershave- at least today she wouldn’t. “ I just don’t think this is a good idea”
She started typing defiantly.
“You’ll barely know I have a cat, it will be at my place the entire time” Dominic said exasperated but enjoying their usual back and forth. He knew he had her convinced already from the soft look that she had when she saw the first picture of the shivering cat Mia had taken custody of from some homesick students.
Amanda laughed out loud. Shaking her head. “You’re place, you barely stay at your place, it will be all alone the entire time.” Amanda pointed out. She didn’t dare not look away from her computer to look at him in fear she would cave in to the dumb cat.
Dominick smirked at the casual way she acknowledged his presence in their lives in her apartment.
“I could take it to yours, the girls would love to hang out with a cat.” Dominick offered. His two tiny co-conspirators would have his back.
“No way” Amanda turned to him in frustration.”My place does not have enough room to swing a cat, literally” she dead panned. Dammit he had a soft smiley face. She had officially given in.
Dominick grinned in victory.
“Well that’s a whole other issue, You need a bigger place,” he suggested. “If not for the cat for the sake of my back, I cannot take your tiny person bed.” His amused smile was one breath away from being mocking.
She couldn’t let him have the last word. It was part of her personality at this point she wanted to pester him with pointless arguments until one of them died. It was starting to feel like a real possibility too.
“If you want a bigger bed you are going to have to contribute to rent, you’re lucky I found a place with a bedroom big enough for the bed I have now” Amanda jabbed his side to move him off the paperwork he had sat upon.
He rose to standing as hope filled his chest. Was this the time to take the conversation to him moving in officially? It was clear Amanda hadnt meant for the conversation to go in this direction. But he had to take the chance.
“Fine by me, and then maybe I can have more than one drawer and proper hanging space” Dominic teased.
Amanda was quiet for a moment and he worried that he had gone too far. He was about to take it back when she rose from her seat too.
“I also need a kitchen with a dishwasher, because dating you comes with a lot of dishes” Amanda joked nervously. Be brave Amanda.
He took a step into her space fully. His heart warming the space in between.
“Oh we are talking wish list items,” he sighed as if considering. “We need a coat closet, for one woman you have enough coats to keep the entire city of Manhattan warm through winter” he pointed out with a satisfied smile.
“We need bathroom storage because you use more products than I do.” Amanda retorted. She had spent an entire evening once sitting in front of his mirror inspecting every one of his man things as he stood between her legs demonstrating why he needed every single one. She had mocked him for days. He had revealed in the memory of her sitting like that every time she did.
“Lie, the entire container of skincare that you keep under the sink says otherwise” his eyes shone with amusement. He had taken one look at that hidden disorganised box and knew she had probably received most of it from her mother and only used any of it on days when she stared into the mirror for too long.
He made his next request. “It should be close to a park, so that when you make me take Frannie out in the worst of winter I don’t have to walk miles”
Amanda gave an outraged snort.
“Now who’s lying. You insist on taking her out late at night because of some patriarchal need to protect me” Amanda scoffed, raising her hand to his chest she gave a light shove backwards. He didn’t move“ You know, I could take you in as a fight counsellor.” Her tone turned flirty.
Dominick laughed before his voice turned equally flirty as he made his next suggestion. “That reminds me, I want a space for you to work out at home”
That confused her; he was nowhere near as good as she was flirting. “What why? I don’t have to pay for the gym at the precinct”
“Your ass in yoga pants” he had been staring, that was oddly reassuring.
“Pervert” she pretended to be offended but took note to expand her activewear.
“Only for you sweet cheeks” pushing his luck on what he could get away with at her workplace.
Two could play at that game and she had to get her two cents in. “Fine but I want an ensuite bathroom so that you don’t bother putting a shirt on after you shower”
He laughed. She kept him on his toes. He however needed to know if she was serious. He didn’t want to start truly imagining their home together if this was a joke.
“Two bathrooms, that’s going to require me paying more than a little of the rent” he tried for a teasing tone but she could hear the seriousness behind the question.
She suddenly lost her nerve. Bantering with him was one thing but maybe he didn’t get that she was serious. She thought that for once they could take a step in their relationship with a whole lot of laughter instead of an emotional rollercoaster that left her feeling deficient in some way.“Are we not discussing moving in together?”
His relief at her question was visible. They were finally in the same place on the same track. There had been a time where he would have never believed they would get here. He felt like he had spent the last 7 years either chasing after her or pulling her forward. It was nice to be together.
“I guess we are,” he said softly.
She wanted to grab him and celebrate. But they had not picked the best place to have this discussion and it was 10 am she could run off to snog her boyfriend. So instead she fell back to there known. Pestering.
“You can’t take Mia’s cat.” she said abruptly. She smirked as his face fell.
“What, why not?” He laughed, of course she wasn’t done arguing.
“Because we are a dog family” she said as if it was obvious.
“We are a dog family?” His eyes sparked at the word family.
Shrugging her shoulders casually she explained.
“Yeah, we are one of those families who take the dog for a walk in the park on the weekends, the kids have fun in the playground, the adults drink coffee on the benches and the dog goes between bounding after chew toys and falling asleep under the park bench.”
Dominick shook his head,“we have never once done that” but he wanted to. It sounded perfect.
“But we could, if we lived together, it could be our Sunday morning thing.” He could tell even within her joking tone this was something she wanted desperately.
“You want to have a Sunday morning thing?” He questioned. He knew he was poking the bear that was Amanda Rollins feelings again but how could he not when a simple thing like a walk in the park was apparently all that it would take to make her happy.
“Yeah, it seems nice.” She revealed. Smiling at the expression on his face. Feeling brave she decided she could give him more “I hate how you disappear on Sundays to prepare for work, I mean I get why you do it, hell I do it too but if you didn’t have to leave to go to your place we could have an hour or so to go to the park every Sunday”
She got him in the jugular with that. Every Sunday. She hated it when he left. He was done for and he apparently had taken her down with him.
“Amanda Rollins you're hopelessly in love with me”
His smile took up his entire face.
“Shut up” Amanda glared in embarrassment. He could have taken this conversation somewhere more serious,she had given him the opportunity. But that’s not what he wanted to do- at least not at the precinct.So he pestered her as usual as their default.
“oh nope I’m going to revel in this all day.” He raised his hands in surrender “You can’t bare to be apart from me for even an hour
“ I never said that,” Amanda defended only half seriously.
He shook his head reproachfully. Laughing at her once more.
“Don’t deny the truth, you want me around all the time,”
She pushed him again to force him away from her desk.
“If your going to be like this I don’t want you around right now”
Valesco, having caught the tail end of their conversation, looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.
Dominick took the opportunity to embarrass her further.“She’s joking she loves me and we are going to move in together and get a cat” he told the rookie detective. Who risked a smirk at Rollins who rolled her eyes and turned back to her work.
Dominick walked off in the direction of Olivia’s office- the real official reason he had visited the precinct.
“No cats!” She shouted after him.
He turned before knocking on the door. “I’m going to call Mia and tell her that we would be happy to take her cat for a few days”
He opened the door to make a quick retreat closing it on an exasperated “Carisi”
There was a scruffy cat in her already small bed by the time she got to sleep that night.