I had worked hard, and finally I had reached the final examination before I could finally be an independent doctor at my own clinic. Once I passed this, I'd be on track to join Rico, Dr. Lee and the other doctor they'd recently recruited in stating our own medical clinic. I just had to take this one last exam, the second part of the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination.

The first one was what I had to take before starting my residency. Passing it allowed me to get the training I needed in my residency and now this exam would test if I was capable enough to be an independent doctor.

Gabriel had just dropped me off at the venue for the exam. He was heading off to prepare for Kiara's birthday party that day which I unfortunately had to miss. As soon as this exam was finished, I would go out and buy her a gift. I had been busy with preparations and I barely even had time to see my beautiful boyfriend. He brought me dinner and ate with me every night, even though I wasn't great company while I studied.

He said I was adorable when I studied, but he thought I was adorable no matter what I did, so he was pretty biased. He even pretended to be my patient and helped me study sometimes.

That little catchphrase came in handy, he keeps asking what my diagnosis was every single time he helped me practice a scenario.

When I got to the venue, I just followed all the other nervous looking people. I wasn't too nervous myself, I knew I was prepared and that I was a good doctor. But there was always that anxious voice that told me my life would turn to hell if I didn't pass this thing.

Eventually, they let us into our stations. I sat down and started my first clinical station. It had me applying my medical knowledge and demonstrating my skills. I had to demonstrate how to draw blood, and how to do stitches. It was a very easy station.

My second station on the other hand was a bit of a nightmare. I had to diagnose a patient and come up with a treatment plan. But that diagnosis was damn hard. I sat there ordering scan after scan on the little tablet, reading over the symptoms over and over again and examining the scans over and over.

As soon as I felt myself get frustrated, I closed my eyes, picturing Gabriel and how he had his head on my lap the other day. I knew I couldn't freak out in front of a patient, I had to keep it together and the only way to do that right now seemed to be to think of my boyfriend. He told me how amazing of a doctor I was, how great I'd do. I remembered how he listed all the symptoms for one of the practice scenarios we tried together.

I grabbed the pen for the tablet. Forming a list where I wrote out all the symptoms and then even wrote the results of each scan. I could see everything in front of me on one screen and that made it a little less overwhelming.

But the symptoms were just weird. I mean rashes, stomach pain, seizures, depression, nerve damage in extremities, bloating, joint pain, sores. There was no evidence of brain damage. The patient's stool was abnormal, but their joint pain was unexplained, there was no evidence of arthritis. It seemed to be irritable bowel syndrome, but with the seizures rashes and joint pain, it seemed like it was something else.

I was getting so frustrated and I didn't know what to do.

"You have all the symptoms, now.... What's your diagnosis, Doc?" I heard Gabe's voice ask me as I closed my eyes to think.

I didn't have a diagnosis yet, but I needed more information, I knew that. So I just went for it and asked for an intestinal biopsy. Unfortunately, I had to perform it virtually. I had to follow a virtual simulation, allowing me to do the biopsy myself.

Luckily for me, the intestinal biopsy was the right way to go. I didn't know how well I'd done at actually performing the biopsy, but I gathered the information I needed and concluded that it was celiac disease. The patient's immune system was attacking their small intestines and causing all those problems. It was a reaction to gluten. The only way to treat it was to go completely gluten-free.

Luckily for me, this station was the same one where I had to deal with a difficult patient. They said they couldn't completely drop gluten. Of course, I didn't have a patient in front of me, just a tablet and a robot for a patient. I explained the complications that not treating their disease would cause, proposing a few ways to make the change easier. And luckily after that, I was done with the station.

I moved onto the next which was a fairly easy one, but I had to demonstrate my ability to do a full body exam.

The fourth station was a paediatric station. The patient was a robot baby with a paranoid robot parent. It was actually the easiest station, although examining a robot baby wasn't the most pleasant thing. It was quite creepy actually.

I got through two more stations after that one and then the exam was over. I felt pretty good after the exam. I was ready to head home, have a relaxing bath and then call Gabriel and see how he was doing.

But halfway to my apartment, Gabe called me.

"Hey, baby." I answered, feeling very energetic.

"Hey." He said, sounding very tired.

"What's going on? You sound like you're in a car." I said, taking note of the sounds in the background.

"I am... I have the most irritating nephews, Ava." He said to me, sounding like he was about to fall asleep.

"What's going on?" I asked him.

"We need to talk about something that Vidal wants me to do." He sighed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Just... can we pick you up? Where are you?" He asked me.

"I'm at the bus stop twenty minutes from the apartment building." I told him.

"Baby, why are you walking alone? You could've called me." He said, as I entered the little cubicle and sat in a chair inside of it.

"I know. But I'm still kind of thinking about the exam and I didn't want to bother you if you were sleeping." I explained.

"Alright. Well, we'll be there in a minute, hang tight." He said to me.

"Ok. That means I don't have to miss my goodnight kiss." I giggled.

"And I don't either." He chuckled.

"How was the birthday party?" I asked.

"It was great. Kiara had a great time and so did everyone else... then Vidal decided to ruin it for the poor girl." Gabriel sighed.

"How did he ruin it?" I asked.

"Can I tell Ava?" He asked who I assumed to be Vidal.

"Yes. Tell her." I heard Vidal say.

"He kissed her and then left her." Gabe told me.

"What? That's terrible. Especially if she's sensitive, she's going to be so upset." I said, feeling horrible for poor Kiara.

"I know. But the idiot insists that he can't go back until he's done." Gabe sighed.

"What? Done what?" I asked.

"Come out to the car. It's the big black SUV." Gabe told me.

"Oh... are you guys going to kidnap me and kill me? This sounds suspicious." I laughed, seeing the big black car they were in and getting into it when Gabe opened the door for me.

I hung up on him and then sat closer to him.

"What's going on?" I asked, letting him wrap an arm around me. I saw the extremely stressed look on Vidal's face.

"He wants me to be Kiara's caregiver." Gabe told me.

"Why? Isn't he her caregiver?" I asked.

"Yes. But a caregiver can't have a romantic relationship with the person in their care... and he's just crossed that boundary." Gabe explained.

"Please... those two have been all over each other since the moment I met them. Let's not kid ourselves." I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Yes, but I never kissed her until tonight and I need you to take the title so I can be with her, please!" He begged Gabe.

"Are you ok with that?" Gabe asked me.

"It has nothing to do with me, why are you asking me?" I asked Gabe.

"Because if anything ever happened to Vidal, God forbid, I would have to take Kiara in... so if we were living together, she'd come live with us. It does affect you, and maybe you aren't comfortable with it. In which case, I wouldn't do it." Gabe explained.

"Gabriel! Kiara is my friend. We've been talking a lot lately, I adore her. Of course you can do this. But are you ready? Do you have the correct paperwork to be a caregiver?" I asked him.

"No. I have to go get that done... but it shouldn't be too hard..." He shrugged.

"But you've never done a caregiving course." I said.

"I haven't, but I'm a teacher... I have a whole degree in childcare and education." Gabe chuckled.

"Do you think I'd have to do a course? I have a degree that involves childcare as well." I explained.

"No. I don't think you'd have to do the course. You're interacting with children every single day and you've got thousands of other documents stating how trustworthy you are in a position like this." Gabe said.

"I want to get some caregiver certification as well." I smiled.

"Why?" Gabe asked me.

"I don't know. It's a good thing to have." I shrugged.

"Alright... we can do that too." He smiled, kissing me on the forehead.

"I'm tired." I sighed, resting against my boyfriend's shoulder.

"How'd the exam go?" Gabe asked me, rubbing my arm and kissing my forehead again.

"It was good, I think." I smiled.

"I'm sure you did great." He smiled, playing with a strand of my hair.

"I think I did. I was confident with all of my conclusions... but there was one station that was hard." I explained.

"One doesn't matter, baby." He smiled, kissing my cheek.

"Please stop kissing in the backseat of my car." Vidal said, making me roll my eyes.

"Your nephew is irritating." I told Gabe.

"I know... tell me about it." Gabriel said to me, pulling me tighter into his chest and kissing me on my lips this time.

"Guys... we're here. Get out." Vidal said, pulling up his handbrake and getting out of the car immediately.

Gabe opened the door and helped me out.

"When do you have work tomorrow, Doc?" He asked me.

"Uhm... I don't... I had the exam today, so I took the day off tomorrow as well." I explained.

"Alright. Do you want us to take you home once I get the caregiver certification." He said to me.

"No. Let's take a walk together after this." I told him.

"Alright." He smiled, taking my hand and leading me into the building we were going to.

Gabe had to call his uncle at one point. They needed his help with some paperwork. So he came and helped us out.

It took us all night to get the paperwork done, and then finally just before sunrise, we were done. Vidal drove us all to the mansion they all lived in and I waited for Gabe in his car. He went to grab his backpack and a hoodie for me.

We were going on a walk on the waterfront and I was going to finally tell him how important he was to me. The fact that during a hard station I closed my eyes and imagined him and how he helped me with studying, it meant a lot. And that catchphrase he used with me. It was so meaningful to me. Maybe that was stupid. But he told me how all the men in the family had catchphrases for their wives and how Em had one for her husband. It was like each of the couples had this phrase that encompassed their relationship and how they connected.

Ours was Gabe's cute self showing me how important communication was for us. He came to me asking what my diagnosis was because he wanted to hear my opinions, he wanted me to open up to him and he wanted to involve me in the process of going through his feelings. At least that's how I saw it, that's how it made me feel.

I loved being around that incredible, goofy, silly, beautiful man. I loved seeing his smile and hearing him talk about his day. I loved telling him about my days and sitting around with him even if we were both silent. I loved hearing his voice. I loved holding his hand, kissing him, taking walks with him. I loved planning our future together too. I loved him. I loved him with all my heart and I needed to tell him that now.