They arrived at the bar a little late, it was just the right amount of people to keep the atmosphere live but not where they were shoulder to shoulder. Nick preferred this to a crowded, extremely loud club. He held Amanda's hand and led her and Liv towards the back of the bar where Emily said they'd be.

"Hey guys" Emily waved them over, "Rick, Nick's here." She called out to Rick, who was standing a few feet away chatting with guys from another table.

The girls exchanged hugs and kisses while Nick went over to Rick, "Hey! Glad you made it, man."

"Aw, c'mon Nicky, you know I wouldn't make you suffer with these ladies on your own." He joked.

Emily walked over to the guys and handed Nick a beer, "Hey Nick, how are you?" She leaned in and gave him a side hug.

"Hey, I'm good, how bout you?" He asked returning her side hug.

"Everything is great. Let me know if you two want another drink."

"Dude, she's awesome." Nick mentioned.

Rick nodded his head in agreement.

"Hey, Nicky!" Laurel came over to say hello, she initiated a hug as well which made Nick immediately uncomfortable. Laurel's hug was nothing like Emily's; she wrapped her arms around his waist

"Hi" he smiled politely. When she didn't let go he took a step back but she hung on and let her hand linger near his belly button

"Damn, I wish she would say hi to me like that." Rick joked as he looked at Laurel's hand on Nick's stomach.

"Shut up." Nick gave him a dirty look, "Where's Amanda?"

"She's at the bar with Emily ordering drinks."

Liv noticed Laurel holding onto Nick, "Hey Nick, let's play pool."

Relieved, he followed Olivia to an empty pool table, "What the hell was that?" she asked him.

"Nothin'."

"Have you told Amanda?"

"No."

"What are you waiting for? She's gonna see what I just saw and flip."

"I know, but it's just not something people bring up every day."

"Bring it up before it gets worse."

"I don't want to talk about it right now. Just try not to leave me alone with her, okay?" Nick broke the rack and sunk 3 solids on his first try. Sunk one more but on his third attempt he missed. Liv took over and reminded him how horrible she was at pool.

Amanda went to Nick with a mischievous smile and two shots of tequila, "Here Sexy, let's take a shot!"

"But tequila makes me cochino." He smiled back at her with a playful look in his eyes.

"That's how I like you." After they tossed back the shot, she slightly tippy toed to kiss him and screamed in surprise when he lifted her up onto the pool table, inserted his body between her legs and deepened the kiss.

"I wanna fuck you right here, right now." He whispered in her ear before biting down on her neck. He pushed his hips against her belly.

"Wow big boy, getting excited pretty fast tonight." She giggled.

"Only one of us has gotten off, I have built up sexual frustration from earlier."

Amanda giggled loudly and pushed him away; Nick caught her hand and pressed it over his fattie.

"Nick!" She continued to giggle as he sucked hard on her neck but made no attempt to stop him.

"Hey love birds, move it, some us want to actually play pool." Rick teased taking the pool stick from Nick.

Amanda wrapped her legs around Nick to keep him from leaving; he lifted her and set her on a barstool not too far from the group. In the corner, they made out like love sick high school teens. She liked how sexual he was, it was the perfect mix of affection and nasty. It drove her crazy when he talked dirty to her or when he randomly grabbed her ass.

"Do they do that at work, too?" Emily asked in a sarcastic manner.

"They wish they could do it at work!" Liv laughed and then blushed at how wrong that had come out.

After several minutes they parted for air, Nick could feel his bulge was a lot more noticeable, "Switch me?" He asked .

When Amanda looked at him, he looked down at his bulge then back at her, with wide eyes she laughed at him but stood allowing him to sit on the barstool. He pulled her back in between his legs and hugged her from behind.

"I'm glad we came out. Thank you Nicky."

"Anything you want, Mami", he kissed her cheek before releasing her from his grasp.

The girls took over the pool table next to Liv and Rick. Nick sat back and watched Amanda enjoy her night with friends. He understood that her priorities were different than his simply because he had kids and she didn't. He hoped that nights out at bars with friends would lessen as their relationship grew and shaped into a family. He imagined her belly swollen with his baby and thought that only then could she look more beautiful than she did at this exact moment. He smiled as he watched her toss her head back laughing with her girlfriends. Happiness looked well on her, he wasn't sure if he could afford another kid, seeing as how he had issues with saying no. None of that matter though, he knew no matter where they lived everything would work out fine as long as he had her on his side. The night wore on, drinks were had, shots sloshed into their bellies, their balance became less steady but everyone was having a great time. Every time he looked at Amanda she was visible happy and in return he was happy, too.

But then Laurel made her way towards him again, he took three shots back to back with Liv and Rick. He walked away from the bar, wanting to separate himself from Amanda's friend. Nick quickly scanned the room for Amanda and noticed her walk into the ladies room with Emily and Liv. Laurel followed him when he sat back in the corner near their pool tables.

"Now you have to take a shot with me!" She came towards him holding two shots of Patron Gold, "Here lemon first, she held the lemon wedge up to his mouth, he quickly sucked on it. Laurel held the same wedge to her mouth and sucked on it, looking at him with a seductively raised eyebrow. They tossed back the shot and grimaced as the burn traveled down their throats.

"Mmm, Nicky. That was good, let's do another!"

"Go for it, bro. It's pretty obvious she wants you take her for a ride!" Rick slapped Nick on the arm.

Nick laughed it off and ignored Rick.

As if on cue, the waitress set down a tray with a bottle of Patron and lemon wedges. Laurel handed a shot to Nick, he accepted and when Laurel had poured another for herself they counted to three and tossed the liquor back. Laurel laughed as Nick stuck out his tongue and shook his head from the intense burn, she held out a lemon wedge to him and watched him suck on it for a little longer this time.

"What I would do to feel that on me." She whispered near his face and slowly ran her tongue over her upper lip. She put her hands on either side of his opened legs, moved herself between them and ran her hands up and down the length of his firm thigh muscles. He slouched back trying to register in his drunken haze what exactly was going on. "You know, the other night back at your place I saw the condoms in your drawer…Why would you choose a rebound that made you wear one?" She leaned in closer, inches from his lips, "I would let you skinny deep between my thighs."

Amanda came out ahead of her friends from the restroom; saw Nick in the corner with Laurel between his legs, her heart dropped into her stomach, her breathe was stuck in her throat, everything felt dizzy. She put her hand over her mouth, feeling tears built up in her eyes. She turned around and went right out the back door, gasping for air.

Nick gently grabbed her hands from his thighs and stood up, "Laurel you seem like a nice person and I don't want to offend you, but I'm not comfortable discussing this with you." He moved around her just in time to see Amanda walk out of his sight.

Amanda made her way to the back exit; she could feel tears on the rim of her eyes. Laurel had her hands on him. Why was Nick letting her touch him like that? Was he trying to fuck her, too? Wasn't he the one sweet talking her not too long ago? Maybe that's exactly what it was, sweet talk. Well two can play that game she thought. Why would he ask me to move in with him? Was he intentionally trying to hurt her?

Nick found Amanda standing outside with her face in her hands. "Amanda" he tried to pull her into him but she resisted.

"Hey Nick, having fun?" She knew he could feel the coldness in her voice but she didn't care. She had to push him and these feelings away, let him know this was sexual and nothing more. She wiped the tears from her face.

He knew she saw Laurel in the corner with him, he knew what it must have looked like. "Amanda, what you saw was nothing."

She turned to face him but avoided his eyes, "Nick, you don't have to explain. You can fuck around with anyone you want. Don't let me hold you back." She tried to walk away but he caught her hand and pulled her against the wall, standing in front of her to prevent her from leaving.

"Amanda, look at me. Don't say that. I'm not trying to fuck around." Nick pleaded trying to keep her eyes on his.

"That's not what it looked like to me." She said still avoiding his eyes.

"I don't want her."

"You don't have to want someone when all you're looking for is a fuck. And you know, usually, when you don't want someone you don't allow them to rub your thighs." Amanda pushed him away from her.

Nick grabbed her hands in his and used his body to push her back into the wall. "She came onto me. Right when you were leaving I moved her hands away from me. She was trying to ask me if you were a rebound. I told her I wasn't comfortable talking to her about that and I moved away from her."

Amanda shook her head in disbelief. "Look at me, dammit!" he said with frustration.

Amanda looked him in the eyes, "Is that what I am to you?"

"No, I love you. I want you, Amanda. Only you." He looked at her with deep, serious eyes.

"Have you fucked her? Because if you have, then just tell me right now and let's end this!"

"Fucked her? No! Why would you think that?" He looked at her completely confused

"I seen you two, talking by yourselves with her hands on you more than once!" She let out a loud sob as she realized every time she saw him with her friend and how often her friend mentioned him.

"Amanda, I don't want to fuck that girl. I have never fucked her. She's always talking to me, touching me, and comin' onto me!" He yelled.

"Comin' onto you? Since when?"

"At the cabin, she wanted to know if you were a rebound. That night at the bar, in the hallway, she asked me when she and I were going to hang out. I mentioned a couple of times I was there with you but she didn't seem to care. She put her hands on my arms, pulling on me when I tried to walk away and that's when you got there. The other night in Liv's hallway, every time she comes around! Tonight she kept putting her hands all over me, telling me to skinny dip between her thighs. All I did was take some shots with her, I will own up to that. But I've never tried anything, I don't trust her…"

"You don't trust her or you don't trust yourself around her?"

"Don't start twisting shit up. I said I don't trust her. She knows you're with me, but she still flirts with me? That isn't a good friend!"

"A good boyfriend doesn't allow his girlfriend's friends to fill him up!" she pushed him away from her.

"I already told you I don't want her and I'm not gonna stand here and defend myself for something that wasn't my fault. You need to talk to her, not me! I have never looked at or thought about another woman the entire time I've been with you." He punched the fence the housed some trash bins, the wooden plank popped forward and fell to the ground. He raised his hand to punch the fence again.

"Nick, stop!" He heard Liv yell but it was too late, he punched the fence a second time. "Stop!" She ran up behind him and grabbed onto his fist.

He shook her off, "Stay out of it!" He looked at Amanda who was crying and had a look of fear on her face.

"What's going on? Amanda, are you okay?" Liv asked taking notice of her for the first time.

Amanda nodded. Liv took her in her arms and looked at Nick, scared her had hurt Amanda or had hurt himself, she quickly shook that thought away. She knew he wouldn't hurt Amanda. "Nick, are you okay?"

"I'm going home." He took off and walked the two hour walk back to his house, using the time and fresh air to calm down and clear his head.

Liv took Amanda back inside, paid their tab and caught a cab, Liv asked the cab driver to take them to her apartment. Amanda stopped her and told her she needed to go to Nick's.

"Amanda, he was really upset. I think you two should take the night off and both calm down." Liv tried to reason with her.

"No, I can't leave him thinking I don't trust him. I need to talk to him."

"That's not a good idea right now."

"Liv, please understand. I need to make things right, he's out there somewhere thinking I don't trust him. This whole thing happened because of me."

"Okay, Amanda I'll have to driver drive us to Nick's but you have to tell me what happened."

Amanda proceeded to tell Olivia what happened inside and outside the bar. Liv listened without interrupting or defending Nick. When Amanda finished, she told her Nick was telling her the truth and shared with her when Nick had first mentioned to her that he was uncomfortable around Laurel.

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"Are you sure you don't want me to come in?" Liv asked Amanda as she got out of the cab.

"Thanks but it's okay. He's not here yet so I'm just going to wait for him."

"Call me if you need anything, Noah's sleeping at Nick's Mom's tonight."

"Okay. Thanks for everything."

Liv called Nick on her way home but he didn't pick up. She whispered a silent prayer for her friends and headed for home.

Amanda went inside the house, showered and waited on the couch for Nick. She tried calling and texting him but he wasn't responding. She drifted off to sleep waiting for him.

About an hour later, Nick walked into his house, he slipped off his light coat and noticed Amanda curled up on the couch. He draped a throw blanket over her and went to shower. He was convinced a shower would take away his headache and the throbbing pain in his left hand. Amanda woke up when she heard the water turn on, looked around and took notice of the blanket that was now on her. She got up and looked for Nick, she heard him slide the shower curtain on the other side of the bathroom door so she sat on the bed and continued to wait.

When he opened the bathroom door, with a towel loosely draped around his hips, Amanda felt her breath get caught in her throat for the second time that night, and butterflies set flight in her tummy.

"Why are you here? Laurel isn't here but feel free to search." His words shot out of his mouth in a harsh tone.

"I'm sorry. Nick, I'm so sorry." Tears fell down her cheeks again.

"How could you think shit like that?" he asked angrily.

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking straight. I trust you, I trust you more than I have ever trusted anyone else. I love you, Nick." She went over to him and buried her face in his chest; she felt his hands rub her back in a soothing manner.

"I love you more, Amanda. I was more hurt than angry. I always thought I proved to you that I didn't want anyone else, I thought I had shown you that I don't see any other women, I only see you." He buried his face into her hair, taking in her scent and shedding a few tears.

"Can you forgive me?" She looked up at him through her bangs with her tear stained face.

"I'll always forgive you but no more Laurel, please?" he whispered to her.

"No more Laurel, our friendship is over. I'm stupid for ever thinking I could trust her."

Nick walked her to the bed, pulled her down with him and held her in his arms. He was relieved that she held onto him, too. He felt like he loved her even more by that gesture alone. People always think women need all the comfort but after a fight like they just had, Nick needed comfort as well. Amanda was the only one that could give it to him.

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After weeks of debate, Amanda and Nick finally settled on living outside of the city and a zone they wished to live in, it wasn't far from work either. They sat opposite their real estate agent and discussed financials and legalities.

"Do you think anyone would want to buy Nick's house?" Amanda asked the agent.

"Hey…" Nick looked at her, "I'm hurt."

"I didn't mean it like that, I just mean, like are houses things people want to buy right now? They're expensive."

"Well, Amanda, truth is that Nick's house is a good starter home that's been well taken care of. I actually have a young couple in mind that are looking for something like what Nick has." The agent assured her.

"Great. Sell it to them!" Nick encouraged the agent.

"Okay, so let's go check out some houses that are around your budget?"

"Let's go" Amanda grabbed Nick's hand and eagerly led him to the agent's car.

Nick smiled as he realized how excited she was. He chatted with the agent during the 35 min drive to Brooklyn. They arrived at the first house and right as Amanda stepped out of the car he pulled her to him and kissed her, "If you see something you like, don't get too excited. He'll try to sell it for the highest price possible. Think like a detective, we're interrogatin' right now."

They looked at several but Amanda was pretty set on a brownstone that had some sort of yard, at least 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, that wasn't part of a duplex or anything else. She refused to waste her time looking at something that wasn't what she had in mind.

The agent looked at Nick, expecting him to put his foot down.

Nick laughed, "She's the boss, and she wants what she wants."

"Okay, let's go back to my office and I'll print out a list of availabilities that meet her needs."

Hours later, Nick was exhausted from looking at houses, townhouses or whatever each one was called. They blended together now; he couldn't distinguish one from the other. But he let Amanda talk him into seeing one more brownstone in Fort Greene.

Once they pulled up in front of the history brownstone Amanda rushed into Nick pushing him against the car, "This is the one, I want this one. Please?" She jumped up and down in anticipation.

"Let's see what it looks like first."

They walked into the two story brownstone, "So as you can see this home offers huge bay windows, high ceilings, white walls, custom built in shelves, the living area is a large open space, French pocket doors, a dining room separate from the kitchen, the kitchen has an island and space for a smaller table, stainless steel appliances, the countertops are black granite, the cabinets are all real wood. Through the kitchen you have access to a sunny deck and a decent sized yard. Down the hall is a room that can be used as an office or a spare room and a half bath."

Amanda was in love with the home, she let a small squeal as they walked up the stairs. Nick looked at her while a beaming smile.

"And upstairs is the four other bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, there's this awesome skylight over the landing, this landing is pretty wide too. Two of the rooms are standard size, with good sized closets, there's a connecting bathroom between the rooms. The fourth bedroom is ideal for a little princess, like your daughter, Nick. The room is a little bigger than those other two, it has the built in storage bench underneath the window sill as well as a walk in closet and a small bathroom."

Nick smiled and nodded but kept his poker face, he knew this was the home that would be theirs.

"Now check this out, the master bedroom is awesome! Amanda get ready to be nice to Nick for the rest of your life because you're gonna want him to buy this house for you." He opened the double doors to the master bedroom, "You can a great amount of space here for your bed and maybe a little love seat and chair, double walk in closets so you don't have to fight your way through all her clothes every morning." The agent elbowed Nick in the ribs and laughed. "Amanda come look at this bathroom."

Amanda walked into the bathroom and let out a gasp. The first thing she noticed was the spa style bath and shower there was a lot of space between the tub and the toilet which she smiled to herself as she imagined riding Nick on the bathroom floor. The size of this bathroom was slightly smaller than the spare bedroom downstairs.

"And these double sinks are newly installed, the floors were just redone. This is a great home for your family, Nick. The worst thing about this house is the unfinished basement!" The agent laughed.

"Okay, so how much?" Nick asked getting straight to the point.

"This home is slightly out of your budget but we can move some numbers around and make it work, sell your house for a higher price so in turn you put down less out of your pocket."

"How much?" He asked again.

The agent pulled out his phone and showed him the asking price.

"Wow…that's a big number…" Nick blushed as he thought about how much money he would actually have to move around.

"Let's go back to the office and play with the numbers." The agent offered.

"Not tonight, it's getting late but Amanda and I will talk this over and get back to you."

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Amanda sat on the bed watching Nick undress, "So how much is he asking for?"

"You don't want to know…"

"I want to know. Can we afford it?" She asked looking in the hallway that was lined with boxes of her stuff, she didn't have much but she couldn't wait to unpack them in a home she would be living in for the rest of her life.

"With our jobs, no." He smiled.

"You get paid more than I do and we still can't afford it?" She asked sounding bummed.

"Well, we could afford it if we lived on a very tight budget and never had kids, kids are expensive."

"I don't care if we're poor, I just want that house." She whined.

"Let me see what I can do…but if it isn't possible, I'm sure we'll find something just as good. Now let me have my way with you." He pushed her back onto the bed and straddled her.

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Nick pulled up to the brownstone with the agent, Liv, and Gil. He wanted them to see it before he agreed to buy it.

"Nick it looks nice from the outside." Liv gave it the once over.

He pulled out his phone and tried to reach Zara through Skype. She picked up and kissed her phone as a way of kissing her Dad.

"Hey, Jake from State Farm, what are you wearing?" he laughed

"Uh…Khakis." She responded in a low voice. The two erupted in laughter.

"Baby, I'm gonna flip my camera around so you can see the house."

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Two weeks later, outside the station, he asked Amanda, "Ready to go home?"

"Yes, take me home." She tippy toed slightly to reach his lips. He passionately returned it then opened her door, they drove in silence for a few minutes until Amanda noticed Nick was not taking the same route. "Nick, you were supposed to turn right back there."

"No…"

"That was the street that you always take to your house."

"I'm not taking you to that house."

"Whaat?" She asked in confusion.

"I asked if I could take you home. You said yes, so I'm taking you home, to our home, in Fort Greene." He looked over at her and gave her a devilish smile.

"Nick! You didn't?" She exclaimed, "You did!?"

"I did."

"But how? You said it was too much…" She was shocked.

"Well the house sold fast like the agent said, I have income from two rental properties so that will make up for what our jobs won't."

"Rental properties? Since when?"

"Another gift from my Grandfather, I told you he left me some things. Amanda, don't worry, okay? I have money aside from what I earn at SVU."

The rest of the ride home Amanda draped herself over Nick as he drove them home. To their home. He carried her inside and attacked her with kisses before Frannie came running at them in high speed.

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Complete.

Hope you enjoyed this story! I want to hear what all of you think!

Thank you and Good night!