I woke up from the longest nap of my life and now I was refreshed and ready to go explore this town like Ava promised. Her parents were great. After the mini interrogation from her father, they were both so kind and caring. They seemed to like me and approve of my relationship with Ava.

As soon as I was able to get out of that comfortable bed, I texted Ava, feeling kind of weird about leaving the room without her.

G - Hey, baby... you awake?

She didn't even respond, she was in the room within seconds though.

"You're awake." She giggled.

"I am." I smiled.

"Wanna go explore?" She asked me.

"Sure. What about your parents?" I asked her.

"They're making dinner." She giggled.

"Do you think they'll be ok with me stealing you for a few hours?" I asked her.

"Yeah. We have dinner and tonight to hang out, besides we'll be here for a week." She told me.

"True. Let's go then." I told her, kissing her on her cheek.

"Alright. Get ready, let's go!" She cheered, kissing me deeply and making my head spin before getting up to go change herself.

She knew exactly what she was doing, she loved to tease me. I would get her back though, and she knew it well.

I got up, got changed, and grabbed my phone, texting Ava to come get me when she was ready. Two minutes later, Ava burst through the door and launched herself at me.

"Gabe!" She laughed, kissing me.

"Someone's happy." I laughed between kisses.

"I am." She smiled. "Everything is pretty perfect right now."

I flipped us over so that she wasn't on top of me anymore, and I kissed her the way she had just been kissing me.

Our chests connected as we kissed and Ava only pulled me in closer. I could feel our hearts pounding against each other and I felt her cheeks get warmer as we kissed.

This was the first kiss that was this intimate, and it wasn't just me that initiated it, it was Ava who was pulling me closer and deepening the kiss. It was our first time making out like this and Ava seemed almost more desperate than me for more kissing. She was panting, grabbing and pulling at my t-shirt. It was amazing.

"God, you're so hot, Doc." I said to her when we pulled apart, kissing her cheek gently and getting up off her.

"Gabriel." Ava said softly, sitting up and looking at me with her big brown eyes.

I smiled, sitting beside her on the bed and pulling her to straddle my lap.

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

"That was... I've never... I've never done that before." She said to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Like... that was the most intimate I've ever been with anyone." She said to me.

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby. Was it too much?" I asked her, rubbing her arm as she looked into my eyes.

"It wasn't too much." She shook her head.

"Then what's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing, I love you." She said to me.

"I love you, too, baby." I told her, kissing her forehead.

"Again." She said, pushing me down on the bed and leaning down, kissing me deeply. My hands naturally ran up and down her waist. I didn't know what to do with them other than that.

I pulled her down on top of me, letting our bodies come closer and she only made a moan-like sound and continued. She captured my bottom lip between her teeth and tugged on it gently. It felt really good, and she seemed to enjoy doing it.

I didn't mind this intimacy at all, and I figured since Ava was the one in control right now, she could end it as soon as she was uncomfortable. But then I felt her stiffening beneath my hands and I flipped us over, disconnecting our lips.

"Never make yourself uncomfortable, do you understand?" I asked her.

"I wasn't uncomfortable." She told me as I repositioned us so she was sitting in my lap.

"You were going all stiff in my arms, baby." I said, rubbing her back and kissing her forehead.

"l just think too much sometimes." She said to me.

"What're you thinking about? Do you want to tell me?" I asked her.

"I wanted to discuss it with you in Vancouver when we get back." She told me.

"Ok, but if it's going to put your mind at peace, please tell me now." I said to her.

"I don't want it to ruin our trip." She said to me.

"Ava... nothing is going to ruin anything. Please tell me." I begged her.

"Alright. Alright. But don't you dare freak out, and no matter what your answer us, can we leave the discussion about it for after we get home?" She asked me.

"Yes." I nodded, kissing her forehead.

"Ok... I want to move into a new place...." She said, but I already knew that. We'd already discussed it.

"You already told me that, baby." I frowned, kissing her cheek and pushing her hair behind her shoulder.

"I know... there's more." She said to me. "I want to take a step forward in our relationship too."

"How exactly would we do that?" I asked her.

"You move into my new place with me." She said, her cheeks turning red.

"Are you sure you want that?" I asked her.

"Yes, I'm sure... do you want that?" She asked me.

"Of course. But you'll see a lot of sides to me that you might not like. I can be lazy and boring at times, I can be irritable and grumpy. Do you really want to see my like that? Are you ready for it?" I asked her.

"I'm ready. But you also have to be ready to see my grumpy, lazy and boring sides." She said to me.

"I'm ready for all the different sides of Ava." I chuckled, kissing her temple and squishing her in a tight hug.

"Ok, then will you let me take you on a tour around Canton?" She asked me.

"I'd love a tour of Canton." I chuckled, kissing her forehead.

"Then what're you waiting for?! Let's go!" She laughed, pulling me off the bed and dragging me out through the front door. Her mother laughed and waved goodbye and I waved back as I was dragged out of the house.

Ava and I started walking through the neighbourhood, but she was so excited that she was almost skipping. She lead me through the streets until we reached a cute bridge over a river. I went to cross the bridge but she grabbed me and pulled me down into the trees closer to the river. We reached a spot that was pretty private considering not many people walked around here.

"This is my favourite spot... for when I'm happy of course." She laughed.

"Why this spot?" I asked her.

"Because this is where Jordi and I used to come every time we wanted to get some energy out and we were happy. And we used to turn on music and dance like no one was watching." Ava laughed, grabbing my hands as she turned on some music and she started moving her hips just slightly.

"Are you going to dance?" I chuckled, loving how happy she was.

"Yup. Dance with me, Teach." She chuckled.

"Who said I knew how to dance?" I asked her.

"You don't have to know how to dance. Just do it." She told me.

"Show me." I said to her.

She let my hands go and she started bouncing about, her hips shaking left and right and her hands up in the air. She was pretty good at dancing her heart out.

She grabbed her phone again and she turned on another song that we could both dance to. She winked at me and wrapped her arms around me.

"Dance, baby." She said to me, pulling our bodies together as she started to move. My body began to move along with hers and it wasn't long before we were dancing together. I let loose, letting myself do embarrassing things and just forgetting everything.

Eventually, I collapsed on the ground in exhaustion and Ava continued dancing. That girl knew how to dance, those hips were doing things to me.

Once Ava had gotten rid of most of her energy, her memory started functioning way too fast. She was remembering and listing all the places she was about to take me to.

We went to the train tracks that she used to go to when she needed to think, we went to the school where she spent most of her life. She took me to see the centre of town to see how cute it was. I had an amazing time, but on our way back to her place, she suddenly stopped and let out an alarmed squeak. I turned to find her other hand within some frowning man's grasp.

It wasn't her ex, so I had no idea who else it could be.

"Alec." She said, and I knew that the name sounded familiar.

"Where is she?!" The man asked her, his grip on her hand tightening.

I knew now that it was her friend Jordi's ex-boyfriend. When I saw the fear in her eyes, I lost it a little bit. I grabbed him by his collar and yanked him closer to me.

"Let go of her hand, immediately." I said.

He immediately let her hand go, and turned his anger and attention to me.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Let me go!" He yelled.

"Never touch her like that again. Is that understood?" I asked him.

He nodded, pushing me away without much force at all, clearly afraid of me.

"Where is she?" He asked Ava.

"I don't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." Ava said, her hand finding mine again.

"You had no right to fly her away from here." He said to Ava.

"I had every right! She had every right to leave, you psychopath! You hit her! You laid your filthy hands on her and hurt her!" Ava said angrily, her hand squeezing mine as she frowned at him.

I saw his hand make its way towards Ava's head and I grabbed it before it could do anything. I twisted it behind his back, ready to break the arm if I had to.

"What did I say about touching her?! I will call the police without hesitation if you even attempt to touch her again." I yelled.

"Call the police so they can find this?" He asked. "I look like the victim here."

"No. I'm defending my girlfriend who you have harmed." I said.

"I didn't harm her." He rolled his eyes.

"Baby, can I see your beautiful hand?" I asked Ava, putting my free hand out for it. She placed her hand in mine and I lifted it to show him the forming bruise around her wrist.

"And you're her boyfriend, who's more likely to have done it?" Alec asked.

"Not the elementary school teacher who has a clean record, but the man who has a restraining order filed against him for domestic abuse." I said.

"What?" He asked.

"That's right. We know how to handle things legally. Now do not touch Ava or even bother finding us ever again, your relationship with Jordi is over, find something else to do." I said to him.

I pushed him away from us both and pulled Ava into my arms as we walked away from him. He didn't bother following us.

"You ok, baby?" I asked her, kissing her cheek over and over again.

"I'm ok. I love you." She smiled up at me.

"I love you too." I said, kissing her head.

As soon as we arrived at her place, I turned her around to face me and gave her a few kisses. I felt guilty that she'd gotten hurt when I was around. I felt like it was my fault and that I could've prevented it.

"It's not your fault, I know what you're thinking. It's just a bruise." Ava said, looking down at her wrist.

"You look sad." I pointed out.

"My best friend was all alone with that monster and he hurt her, over and over again." Ava sighed, her eyes welling up with tears.

"It's over now, Ava. Jordi's ok now." I said, kissing her forehead and hugging her.

"I wanna call her." Ava said.

"Alright. Do you want me to leave you alone to talk to her?" I asked, running my fingers through my girl's hair.

"No. Stay please." Ava told me.

We both sat down on the couch and Ava even sat in my lap before requesting a video chat. Her friend answered and I sat back against the couch where I couldn't be seen, rubbing her back for her as she spoke.