It had been weeks and weeks of searching for a place to move into with Gabriel. Finally, I'd found a nice place to live in for Gabe and I. I was excited because it had every specification that I had made. We went and saw it and I was ready to buy if Gabe agreed and then he said he didn't like it and I felt absolutely miserable. We went back to my apartment and Gabe could tell I was upset.

"Ava. You really wanted that place?" He asked me.

"I'm tired of looking for new apartments, Gabe. I found one that fit all my specifications and I was so ready for it to be the one and you didn't like it... I don't get it. What was wrong with it?" I whined.

"It's a downgrade from both of our apartments. Besides, I don't want an apartment, let's get a house, please!" He said.

"A house?! I've been looking for apartments, if I knew you wanted a house, I would've looked... I don't want to do this anymore, Gabe!" I groaned in frustration.

"Don't worry about it, let me handle it from here." He said to me, only frustrating me more.

I couldn't let go. I just couldn't stop before I found a place to move into. I just wanted to move in with him already and he was making it so hard.

"Gabe, I can't. I can't just drop a project unfinished." I sighed.

"Baby, relax. Relax, My Love." He said to me, and he was right. I needed to relax. But it was the wrong thing to say to me in that moment.

"Gabe!" I growled angrily. "I'm so frustrated with you right now. I know maybe it's stupid, but I'm angry."

"I know, baby. I'm sorry." He said to me.

"I'm Ava right now." I said to him.

"Ok. You're Ava. I'm sorry. We can get that apartment if it really means that much to you... but if you'll let me explain myself, I'd love that." I said to her.

"Fine... what?!" She asked me.

"I just think that if we're moving, we should take our time and pick the perfect home, the one that we want to spend the rest of our lives together. I don't like temporary situations. Why would we move to a new place if we know we're moving again later. Let's just skip to the real deal." He said to me.

"Why didn't you say this before?! Before I spent weeks trying to find the right apartment for us?!" I said, collapsing on the couch in my apartment.

"You're right, you're completely right, that was stupid of me. I shouldn't have let you waste that much time... but it isn't a waste. I learned what you like and don't like... and I've been looking too. Together, we built a better image of what we like and don't like." He said to me.

"Alright.... and where did that image get us exactly? I still have nowhere but this dumb apartment to live in!" I growled.

"No. I found a place that I'd like you to come view with me next week." He said, sitting beside me and holding out his hand.

"Fine... this better be good, because I'm taking a break from looking." I pouted, taking his hand.

"We both know that's a lie, baby." He laughed.

"Ugh, shut up. You know I can't drop anything." I said with a sigh.

"Ok, forget about this for now, we need to get to the mansion before we both get stuck in an apartment without heating." He said to me.

"You're right." I sighed, getting up and putting my coat back on, grabbing my gym bag which had some outfits for me to change into if we ended up snowed into the mansion.

We went out to the car and we drove it halfway to the mansion before we found the streets all blocked off.

"We're gonna die!" I cried out, not in the mood for any physical exercise.

"Ava!" Gabe chuckled, but he wasn't chuckling for long.

After climbing over several snowbanks, running through the streets and slipping around seven hundred times, he was over it and he wanted to get home. After two damn hours of climbing, slipping running crawling and sliding through a goddamn blizzard. We arrived at the infamous Ferrari mansion. Killian opened the door for us and we immediately started removing our snow gear.

I was able to change in Ari's room and then I joined everyone in front of the fire, huddling up with them. Some of them were falling asleep, others were eating, some chatting. The family vibe was amazing there.

I recognized everyone except for one girl. She was drop dead gorgeous. Her dark brown skin and her piercing blue eyes were an incredible and rare combination. I saw the way Evan was looking at her, the poor boy was losing it.

It was so damn cold, my body was not built for this level of cold. The generator had shut off along with the rest of the city's power and we were all sitting there shivering. I rested my head against Gabriel's shoulder and just tried to steal away all of his warmth. Finally, Kiara and Vidal arrived, seeming to have hiked through the snowstorm as well.

They changed out of their wet clothing and they joined us in the circle.

It wasn't long before the guys went to look at the generator. Some of us went to the kitchen for food and I just found a spot right next to the fire so that I didn't die of excessive cold. I started to warm up a little, but everyone else was a little further away from me. Soon Ari and Kiara came shuffling over with Eleanor, Juliet's daughter and Mia and Mila, Ari's twins.

"Hey!" I smiled at them.

"Hi." Kiara giggled as I took one of the girls from Ari's arms.

"So... we have something for you." Ari said softly.

"Oh... really? What is it?" I asked, shivering and then shuffling closer to them to get more warmth.

"Well... I've always been the only girl around, until Kiara came along. Not the only girl, but the only girl my age." Ari said.

Kiara nodded along with Ari.

"That must've been annoying." I chuckled.

"It was pretty annoying." Ari admitted. "That's why I always wanted sisters. And I dreamed of the day that Gabe and my brother and cousins would find their soulmates so that they'd be my sisters." Ari said.

I smiled and looked over at my man. He was amazing, and I was so happy that I met him.

"I can tell Gabe loves you." Kiara smiled at me.

"I sure hope he does." I chuckled.

"So, he's said that he does?" Ari asked me, not knowing that the man told me he loved me before we were even in an official relationship.

"Yeah." I laughed, nodding.

"And what about you? Do you feel the same?" Kiara asked.

"I do." I nodded. "I tell him that all the time. He's such a cutie."

"Well... then you accept the title of sister?" Ari asked, looking hopeful.

These girls were different from the others, soon enough, we would be like actual family. I knew the kind of people they were, they weren't ever going to turn on me. They didn't even know Kiara before she came into the family so suddenly, and they all tried their best to protect her. They were already like my sisters, so of course I'd accept the title.

I'd never really met anyone as supportive as this family and these two girls. They were both so pretty and I always struggled with my own self-image, especially compared to others. But they constantly told me how pretty I was and made me feel more confident in my appearance. They also made me feel so capable and strong when sometimes I didn't really feel that way. I'd only talk to them over the phone a few times and still they had such an empowering effect on me.

"Of course. I'd be honoured to be your sister. You two are like the sweetest girls I've met. I've never had any siblings, I have more cousins than can be counted, but they're all overseas." I chuckled.

"Really?" Kiara asked, seeming fascinated.

"Yeah. My grandfather is Indian and he married an American woman. They had my father and his ten siblings. Which is super cool, and they all lived in India. But my father moved to America to study and he built our little family over here. We rarely get to go back because it's so expensive." I explained.

"Oh... so how did you end up in Canada?" Ari asked me.

"I... things weren't the best for me down in the states. I finished high school there and I wasn't involved with the best people. Everything sort of blew up in terms of my social life at the end of my senior year, and.... well, I ran away in a sense. I needed a change of environment and the medical school here had an amazing program. So I just decided it was the best place for me." I explained.

"I see... what about your parents? How did they feel about it?" Ari asked.

"They were happy for me. My parents knew what happened to me and they knew I needed my distance from the community around us. So I just visited them every year in the summer." I told them.

"That's nice. Do you think they'd ever move here?" Ari asked.

If my parents moved to Vancouver, I'd be the happiest girl in the world. I had everything I could possibly wish for, except for having my parents nearby.

"I think when I tell them that I'm staying here forever, I'll be able to get them to consider moving here." I explained, knowing that my parents had a little hope of me returning to Canton with Gabe. But that wasn't going to happen, there were too many horrible relations left back in Canton that I didn't want to handle if I didn't have to.

"It's an amazing place to live. And you know Momma would hook them up with jobs right away if they wanted." Ari said, and I knew that was true.

I knew my parents might be a little hesitant to let Sophie help out, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. This family already considered me and my parents as part of their family, and they wanted to take care of me as if I was one of them and that they wanted to be there for my parents as well.

"We'll see what happens. I think I'll get them to visit for a little while and then they'll definitely be sold on the idea. It's gorgeous here!" I smiled.

"It is very pretty." Arabella agreed.

"Thanks for being so sweet to me guys. I never really had good female friends who actually stood by me when things got hard." I said softly, knowing that even though I forgive Jordi and her excuse is perfectly valid, I was still alone and lonely while her and the others said horrible things to me.

"It's their loss." Ari said and Kiara leaned in to give me a hug.

"I guess so..." I shrugged.

"So... we have something for you." Arabella said, surprising me.

"What is it?" I asked, feeling the cold seep into my bones as Ari, Kiara and I continued to shiver.

"This." Kiara said, putting a small metal ring in my hand.

I gasped and looked down at it in amazement, it was so pretty.

"It's beautiful!" I said, examining it in my hands, the pretty rose pattern around the band made it so much more beautiful.

"Look inside." Ari said, nudging me gently.

I looked at the engraved words.

Sisters Forever.

I felt a warmth spread through me when I saw that. These girls were assuring me that they'd always have my back and be there for me. Even when things sucked and no one else could help me out, they'd always try to understand. I just felt so warm and protected all of a sudden. I couldn't wait to spend time with these girls.

"Aw. That's so sweet! Thank you so much!" I said and I put the ring around my finger. I felt on top of the world, so happy to be a part of this little group. I didn't feel so bothered by the cold anymore.

Then, Ari and Kiara showed me that they had identical rings around their fingers too.

"Next, Juliet." Kiara said.

"Ok, let's go. Join us, Ava." Ari said, and Kiara took my hand.

We all got up and slowly walked to the couch, trying not to lose warmth through the blankets we had on us. We were doing a very awkward shuffle to the couch where Juliet was and she laughed at us.

We sat down and gave her the ring, she cried a little and talked to us about her past for a while, we were able to assure her that everything was fine now that she was a part of this family.

Then we called the beautiful black woman over, her name is Rosalie and it seemed like she really needed the support that we were ready to give. She had this sad look on her face and none of her smiles reached her eyes. But I could tell how touched she was by the ring, her eyes watered, but she held it in.

I now had my own little group of amazing, beautiful girls. But we were only missing one. Theo's high school sweetheart. If only Theo would try reaching out. Hopefully, he would so we could add a sixth sister to the group. We all felt a little better after that and eventually we got the power back. We ended up stuck in the mansion for several days and then we had Micah jump off one of the balconies and dig the door open. Then everyone else chipped in a little with the shoveling and we were finally free.