I finally found the perfect place for Ava and I. It was only three kilometers from the mansion and it was much closer to the school than my apartment or Ava's. Momma and Dad's house was just across the street. Not to mention how Uncle Teo and Aunt Bella's house which they gifted to Kiara was just two houses away from us. It fit every specification that Ava had. It had taken so long to find this perfect place.

I just had to show it to her and see if she hated it. I hoped she didn't, it would be perfect for us. But she could be pretty unpredictably grumpy at times. Ever since the snowstorm, she's been pretty cheery though, so maybe she'd be in a good mood and she'd like the place.

My favourite part of the house was it's backyard. It would be perfect for Nora and the twins to come visit and run around in the huge backyard. I might even built a little playground or something back there. There were three spare rooms, in case anyone wanted to stay over sometime. It was literally perfect for us, we'd never have to think about any changes for the rest of our lives.

I drove down to Ava's apartment where she was enjoying her chance at sleeping in. Poor thing didn't realize that I'd discovered her birthday. It was today and she hadn't even told me. But I found out way back at the beginning of the relationship when I asked her parents for this information. When I arrived at her apartment, I quietly entered, shutting the door behind me and going straight to the kitchen.

I was ready to prepare some breakfast in bed for my sleeping beauty. I made her favourite pancakes for her, and I made her a fruit salad along with a vanilla hazelnut coffee.

I put it all on a tray and I placed a jasmine flower in a tiny little cup for her. I even put my gift to her on the tray, then I went to go wake her. She had two hours to eat and get ready, then we had a viewing for the house.

I set the tray down on the bedside table and I nudged her gently.

"Hey, Ava. Baby?" I asked her, nudging her again. "Wake up, Birthday girl."

I stroked her head gently and kissed her forehead a few times and her cheeks. Finally, she started waking up.

"Gabe?" She asked, her voice all raspy.

"Good morning, Sleepy head." I chuckled, planting a peck on her lips as she stretched like a cat then pulled me into bed with her.

"Someone never told me about something important." I teased.

"What?" She asked, her cheeks turning red because she knew exactly what I was referring to.

"It's my girlfriend's birthday today." I said, kissing her forehead.

"Birthdays are... weird." She said to me, pulling the blankets over her head.

"Birthdays are great, especially the birthdays of amazing people like my beautiful doctor." I said to her, pulling the blankets back down.

"It's too early in the morning for this sweetness, you're gonna raise my blood sugar levels too much for the morning." She told me.

"Oh, I quite literally will, I made you some good breakfast." I chuckled, taking the tray and showing her the pancakes I whipped up for her.

"Oh my God! Marry me already!" She said, melting back into the sheets.

I chuckled and pulled her up.

"Happy birthday, Ava. I love you, Sweetheart." I said to her.

"I love you, too." She giggled, grabbing the mug of coffee and taking her first sip. "Ugh, this is heavenly."

"Aren't you going to open your gift?" I asked her, pointing to the little box on her tray of breakfast.

"You didn't have to get me a gift, Gabe!" She said with a laugh.

"I know, but I wanted to... and I just want you to not be angry with me about this gift, ok?" I asked her.

"Why would I be angry?" She asked me.

"You won't be. Because it's a good, useful gift and you're going to accept it because I did it for your birthday." I told her.

"Ok....?" She said suspiciously, opening the little box with the bow on it to find two smaller boxes.

She opened the first box to find a little bracelet with a stethoscope charm on it, it was simple and cute and I felt that it fit her style best.

She gasped and giggled.

"It's so precious, Gabe. This is adorable! Thank you!" She smiled.

"No need to thank me... open the other one." I said nervously.

She opened the other box to find a key, it was white at the top, and her jaw dropped.

"This has to be a joke... it's a joke, right? Tell me it's a joke." She said in shock.

"It's not a joke, baby... it's the most reliable one and I wanted to get you something you have a use for, something you wanted and something to make sure you'd always be safe." I said to her.

"No, you're insane!" She said.

"Is this you being angry?" I asked her nervously.

"I'm not angry, I'm thrilled, Gabriel!" She said, pulling me closer to kiss me. "I don't think you should've bought me a car, not the best most expensive model either, but... I appreciate it and I'm not about to reject a gift. The only thing I can do is do something like this for you on your birthday."

"I'm so happy you like it." I smiled.

"Of course I like it... it's white right?" She asked me.

"Oh, wait until you see it, baby. The colour is so perfect for you." I told her.

"When do I get to see it?" She asked me.

"As soon as you eat your breakfast, go get ready and then let me take you to see something important." I told her.

"What?" She asked me.

"You'll see... you can drive us there with your beautiful car." I said to her.

"Oh my goodness, Gabe! Thank you so much! Next time please don't get something so expensive." She told me.

"Forget the price, baby. It's useful to you, you needed a car now that you're working at the clinic and the hospital interchangeably. Now you can handle the schedule perfectly. And if you ever need to get there in a hurry, you can use level three." I said to her.

"God, Gabe! You're literally so perfect." She said to me.

"Really? And how's my cooking?" I asked her.

"Absolutely delectable." She chuckled, stuffing another bite of her breakfast into her mouth.

"I love you so much, Doc." I said to her.

"I love you too, Teach." She smiled. "Now tell me, how's the little drama queen at school?"

"Lily?" I asked.

"Yeah." Ava smiled.

"She's doing great! This new system is working perfectly for her. She's learning so much more, her grades are really going up. And she's a little less upset all the time." I said.

"Wow. That's amazing. Has anything come up about her parents?" Ava asked.

"Not yet. But I'm not letting this school year end without figuring it all out. It's just so damn hard not to overstep my boundaries as her teacher and to figure this stuff out. If the foster care system was better, I would've called child services a whole year ago." I explained.

"Yeah. It's scary, because foster care could make or break her future." Ava agreed.

I nodded my head.

"What was the last mischievous thing Lily did?" Ava asked me.

"Drawing circles all over my cheek and forehead." I sighed, cringing at the memory.

"Oh my God, I would kill to see that." Ava laughed.

"You can see similar things at the fair soon... will you come with me?" I asked her.

"I'd love to! Tell me exactly what day as soon as you know. That way I can make sure I don't have work that day." Ava said to me.

I smiled and nodded, kissing her on her cheek.

She finished her breakfast and then she got ready to go view the house. She didn't realize that's what she was doing though.

"What should I wear?" She asked me.

"Uhm... something comfortable, but a little special." I said to her.

"Ok... Sio, kinda fancy but still comfy?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I nodded, watching her grab something from her closet.

She changed into a black long sleeve t-shirt and a flowy black skirt with a floral pattern on it. She looed drop dead gorgeous. She put on some earrings and a necklace, as well as the bracelet that I just gifted her.

Before I knew it, she was ready to go. She looked gorgeous.

"Alright, ready, baby?" I asked her.

She nodded, happily taking my hand and letting me lead her to her new car. It was white but with a tint of rose gold in it's colour. She gasped when she saw it, jumping up and down.

"I love it so, so, so, much! The colour is perfect, it's so pretty!" She cheered, opening the car and getting in. It wasn't long before we were off and heading towards our new place. I had her park the car at the mansion, then I took her for a walk to the house.

"Where are we going, Gabe? Why are we walking to?" She asked me after half an hour of walking.

"I want you to think about us, after we're married, we'd be at the mansion with everyone, but we'd decide that we want more privacy for the night, and we'd decide to go to our place. So we'd get up and leave, and we'd walk to our own house." I said to her.

"What?!" She asked me, looking up at me in shock.

I laughed, kissing her forehead as she continued to cling to my bicep. She always did that when we walked together.

"I think I found the perfect place for us, but if not, we can just keep looking." I said to her.

"Oh my God! Really?!" She asked me.

"Yes, really." I laughed.

"No, Gabe. You're lying to me." She said.

"I'm not. I told you I'd find something and I finally found it... I think it's perfect. It needs a little touching up, like I think we should switch all the carpet to wooden flooring."

She nodded, agreeing with me and listening for more information.

"It has a master bedroom, then I think there are three spare bedrooms, maybe even a fourth if we touch up on the basement a little. It has a pretty big kitchen which will be perfect for family gatherings. It had four and a half bathrooms, and it had a huge backyard." I said to her.

"Does it have an office?" She asked me.

"It does, and it's big enough for both of us to have desks and a lot of space for ourselves." I assured her.

"It sounds amazing." She said in excitement.

"Well, here it is." I said, pointing the the house we had just reached.

"No way, this is it?" She asked me.

"Yup. Do you like it?" I asked her.

"It looks gorgeous, do we get to see the inside?" She asked me.

"Yup. I booked us a viewing." I said to her.

"When is it?" She asked me.

"Now. We just have to knock." I said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it before leading her to the front door.

"Oh my goodness! This is exciting!" She giggled as I knocked.

The real estate agent opened the door and let us in, leading us through the spacious yet homey house, showing us everything to the last detail and proving time and time again how perfect it would be for us.

I hoped Ava would agree to buy it with me, but I really couldn't read her expression as she asked questions and examined everything. Then it was time to leave after viewing the house. I told the real estate agent we'd discuss it and I'd get back to her that night about it.

After we left, it was time to go back to the mansion and drop Ava off. The girls wanted to take her out for the day, and then I'd be picking her up for dinner and a date, just the two of us.