As we sat on the bench at the waterfront, Ava scooted closer and rested against me a little more.

"Gabriel...? Did you really mean what you said when you told me you loved me?" She asked me.

"I did. I mean, Ava... I've been hanging on to you for two whole years. I enjoy every moment I spend with you. Our conversations are to die for, I feel like I can trust you with everything. I want to spend every moment of my life with you." I said to her.

She looked up at me at a weird angle, trying to see my facial expression and judge if what I was saying was true. But I had much more to say, so I continued.

"I want to experience big milestones with you in my life. Like moving into my first actual house... redecorating, getting married, travelling.... everything. I want to do all those new exciting things with you. Because over the past two years, you've become a best friend to me. Someone I'm excited to go talk to and see, someone I can't wait to tell about my day." I told her. "And someone who has such a hold on me that every time I see you, my heart gets a little too excited and I run into things and fall over."

"All that about me?" Ava asked, looking into my eyes.

"Yes. You decide though. A racing heart every time I see you, an excitement to tell you about my day whenever it's time to come to the hospital to see you. Trust that you won't hurt me and you'll be a good person to tell everything to, a vision of a future with you... and my eyes thinking that you're the definition of beauty. It's like I'm not home unless I'm sitting beside you and talking to you. I love hearing what you've done too, following up with you, trying to help you out with things. My diagnosis is love, but I'm not the doctor.... What's your diagnosis, Doc?" I asked her.

"There are times when the patient knows best... they understand themselves and how they react to things and you have to listen to what they're telling you... my diagnosis matches yours... and... I have something to say." She said to me.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"I want to take you on a date tomorrow... I want to take us on dates a lot of the time actually. You're just about the most amazing man I've ever met in my life, Gabe. The highlight of my day is seeing you, talking to you, telling you about the bad things and the good things that happened every day, seeing what you got me for lunch and hearing about your adorable students and what they've been up to. Today was amazing too, I mean talking about our families, and meeting the people you were talking about... they were all amazing, and being a part of that amazing bond you all have... it would be a great honour." She told me.

"So then.... you've given the symptoms... what's your diagnosis, Doc?" I asked her, knowing deep down she'd never say it now. She wasn't ready, but she was willing to talk about it.

"Something I'm afraid to admit even to myself... the last time I said those three words to someone, I was wrong. I didn't know what I was talking about and I got hurt. Now they're actually real. I've found myself in a vulnerable position with someone... and while I know you're different, you won't do anything horrible to me... I'm still scared of that vulnerability." She told me.

"Then take your time, Ava. Let's just have all the fun in these next few days... maybe eventually you won't be afraid anymore." I told her. "You know that there's nothing to be afraid of with me, you know that and soon, it will sink in... but there's no rush for you to do anything in our relationship, ok? Just relax and have fun."

She smiled at me and then took my hand.

"Ok... then let's have fun. I'm ready whenever you are." She smiled.

"Ok, off we go." She said to me.

We walked over to the little mall by the water and then we got changed into our wetsuits. The jet skis were waiting for us there, so all we had to do was get into the wetsuits and put on our lifejackets. Ava seemed a little apprehensive when she first realized we were basically getting onto water motorcycles.

"Ok, I'm not going to die, right?" She asked me.

"Of course not." I chuckled.

"I don't know about this... I don't even know how to drive these things." She said to me, looking nervous.

"How about we go the first round on one together and then you can go on your own?" I asked her.

"Ok." She smiled, immediately getting ready to mount the ski.

"Hold on. Let me get on first." I laughed, getting onto it and then holding out a hand for her.

She took my hand and I helped her onto the ski, putting her in front of me so I could teach her how to control it.

I showed her how to accelerate and brake with the little levers on the handlebars. She was having an amazing time, bossing me around and telling me where to go, and then taking over and making us go faster. Soon enough, I got her on her own jet ski and she had me beat. She was a really fast learner. She was skiing around me in circles by the time we were done.

"Hey! Gabe!" She called out as she zoomed by me.

"Yeah?" I asked her.

"Wanna race?! To that dock right there." She said, pointing to a faraway dock.

"Sure. But don't be too upset with me when I win." I said to her.

"Don't flatter yourself, Teach." She laughed, turning and stopping beside me a few meters away.

"Ready?!" She called out to me.

"I'm ready. On the count of three. Count with me!" I said.

"One! Two! Three!" We both yelled together, both of us beginning to accelerate as soon as we said three.

Much to my liking, I beat the bossy doctor fair and square. She challenged me to ten rematches and she lost every single one. She was still a little afraid of the speed she was able to reach. If she just let go of her worries, she could've beat me.

By the time I was ready to get out of the water, Ava was at her peak energy and ready to zoom around in the water for the entire night.

"You tired?" She asked me.

"I am." I chuckled.

"Let's go to that beach over there and chill for a while." She said to me.

By chill, she meant bury me in large amounts of sand and battle the waves for a whole hour. She took pictures of me, exhausted and helplessly buried beneath excessive amounts of sand. She took pretty pictures of herself on my phone. She filled my storage with pictures at the beach. I didn't mind at all though. The pictures would be fun to look through one day.

Eventually, she ran off and returned to me with a big ice cream cone. After the ice cream, I felt energized enough to keep up with her. And before long, we were both running around like crazy toddlers. The date went on well past midnight and Ava even talked to her parents while we were at the beach. She facetimed them, told them about the date she was on, and then she came back to me looking happier than I'd ever seen her.

I realized during our time on the beach that if the rest of my life was spent having nights like that one with Ava, I'd be the happiest man the world had ever seen. Somewhere during our time there, I got my revenge by burying Ava in the sand as well and taking pictures of her, only they weren't bad. They were absolutely adorable.

Once we were both tired enough, we went back to the dock, I handled the storage for the skis and I got us back to the car. I noticed Ava get tired so I picked her up, carrying her the rest of the way.

"You're gonna get a great night's sleep tonight, aren't you, Doc?" I asked her as I walked along the waterfront with her in my arms.

"I sure am. I could hibernate after a night like this one." She laughed.

"Alright. Let's get you home so you don't miss too much sleep because of me." I said.

She smiled and rested her head against my shoulder, yawning as I carried her to the car.

When we got there, she let me place her in the car and then she shooed me away. I went around the car and got in myself. She smiled at me as I got settled in the driver's seat.

"Gabriel Morelli... you sure know how to give a girl the best date ever." She laughed.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I think this has been one of the most exciting and fun nights of my life." I smiled at her.

"Well, this is definitely the best date I've ever had. This beats every date anyone ever went on!" She chuckled, looking into my eyes.

The eye contact was killing me. I couldn't tear my eyes away from hers even if I wanted to.

"So... are you going to drive me home?" She asked me, still not looking away from me.

"I am... you know... I never would've thought that dating a doctor would be so fun... aren't doctors supposed to be uptight and serious all the time?" I asked her, making her roll her eyes.

"Aren't teachers supposed to be fun killers?" She asked me, crossing her arms.

"No. I'll have you know, us teachers are the life of every party." I laughed.

"That's not possible. Because it's the doctors that bring life to everything around them." She said to me in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Is that so? I thought they were boring. I mean... all the textbooks, facts, studying, no breaks like ever, all those all-nighters... you're all supposed to be grumpy." I said to her.

"No. We have to be fun to make up for the torture we've been through. You on the other hand had an easy degree and you exhausted all your youth in those college years... so now, you're boring." She said to me.

"You can argue anything, can't you?" I asked her.

"I sure can." She smiled, winking at me and stopping my heart.

"You need to stop being distracting so I can get us home." I said to her, making her laugh.

"Ok, ok. Drive." She chuckled. "And let me be the DJ again."

I handed over my phone and she started scrolling through, looking for songs.

"Gabe... you said you had your own apartment right?" She asked me, interrupting her search for songs as I began our drive to her apartment.

"Yes." I said, keeping my eyes on the road.

"So, do you just stay there alone?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I laughed.

"Well, why don't you just stay with your family? Don't you guys have a family house?" She asked me.

"Yeah. We do. I stay in my apartment sometimes, sometimes I'm at Ric and Rico's mansion, or I'm on the island... it's a-" I said, but I couldn't finish because Ava interrupted me.

"Sorry, come again! Mansion?! Island?!" She said.

"Uhm... yes." I said, realizing now that Ava might now know how rich my family happened to be.

"Gabriel.... what are you talking about... people don't just own islands..." She said in complete disbelief.

"Uhm... yeah... my family has some money." I said softly.

"Some?! Some?! Are you insane?! How much money do you guys have...?!" She said, her panic levels rising. "Pull over."

I knew I had to be cautious about this. I genuinely just didn't think it was a big deal, but that was because it's my life. I was raised in that environment and to me it'd always be normal. But Ava was probably shocked about it and maybe a little hurt that I didn't tell her.