It was my girl's birthday, and she was out having fun with the girls. I had one last thing I wanted to do with her though. I was going to make her some delicious dinner and I had two options for what we'd do. Either we could go out or we could stay in, she'd decide.

I bought some vegetables that I'd need for our dinner, and then I went off to get Ava from the island. When I arrived, all the girls were flopped on the couches in the Villa living room. I walked over to Ava from behind and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Hello, Beautiful." I smiled down at her.

"Hi, baby... come sit." She said to me, pulling me next to her on the couch.

"Uncle Gabe, can I have cuddles?" Arabella asked.

Ava giggled and gestured for Ari to come.

"Sure, come here." I chuckled.

Arabella may only be seven years younger than me, but I am her uncle nonetheless, and that demanding girl needed her attention. She cuddled into my side and Ava did the same on my other side.

"Gabe...? Nora and I have to ask you something." Ava said, making Eleanor gasp and rush over.

"Yes! Gabey, please!" Nora said, jumping up and down.

"Please what?" I asked in confusion, pulling Eleanor into my lap.

"A swing set and a hammock!" She said.

"What?" I asked, looking at Ava.

"Don't listen to her, she's too spoiled for her own good." Juliet told me.

"No! Please, in your backyard, Gabey! I wanna have a swing set and a hammock so I can come play with you and the twins!" Eleanor said, begging me.

"Of course I'll build you a swing set and a hammock!" I said, kissing her little hand.

"Really?!" The little one asked me.

"Of course. We're gonna have so much fun together, aren't we?" I asked her.

"Yes!" She cheered, hugging me.

"Alright, I'm going to steal the birthday girl from you guys. Romeo Junior, would you like to cuddle Aunt Ari in my absence?" I asked Eleanor.

"Yes! I'm a good cuddle buddy, Auntie, you can ask Daddy!" Nora giggled, climbing into Arabella's lap.

I chuckled and helped Ava up. She groaned and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Carry the birthday girl, she's too stuffed to move." Ava said to me.

"Alright." I smiled, throwing my dramatic girlfriend over my shoulder.

"Wow. Thanks, Caveman." She said to me.

"Bye guys, I'll see you all later." I chuckled.

They all laughed as I carried Ava out of the room like that. She was surprisingly quiet, but then I felt a smack on my behind.

"Uhm, no." I said.

"Yes. You have a nice butt." She told me with a giggle.

"Ava!" I protested, putting her down.

"Yes, Handsome?" She asked me, connecting our lips before I could say anything else.

I kissed her back, running my fingers through her slightly matted, sticky hair.

"Baby? Why is your hair sticky?" I asked her.

"Oh, it was the twins doing my hair after they ate candy." Ava chuckled.

I chuckled and kissed her again.

"How was your birthday with the girls?" I asked her.

"Perfect... what did you have in store for us?" I asked him.

"I was thinking we could have a little dinner at home, but you seem stuffed." I chuckled.

"Nu-uh, I could eat!" She said immediately.

"Are you sure?" I laughed.

"Yes! What're you gonna make for me?" She asked me.

"I don't know. Whatever you want, Doc." I said to her.

"When do we close the deal on the house? I just want to start moving!" My beautiful girlfriend said.

"We will, baby. I'm working on closing the deal and getting the keys by the day after tomorrow." I told her, kissing her forehead and pulling her towards the helicopter.

"Baby, I'm so excited!" She cheered.

"Me too." I smiled, feeling ecstatic about how cheerful she was.

We flew back into the city and I drove her to my apartment where we built a blanket fort and we sat inside it and had a couple of delicious burgers. Ava told me about her day with the girls, and I told her about my day away from her. Then we both talked to her parents who I had actually been trying to fly out but their flight got canceled and because of a storm they couldn't actually find another flight. They were quite upset about it, but Ava made sure to tell them it was fine.

We spent quite a while talking about our new house and making out like hormonal teenagers. Then I brought out a deck of cards and played some card games with Ava. Of course, the stubborn queen won every last round of every single game we played. Then she turned on a movie and she fell asleep with her head in my lap.

I knew that Ava's birthday was great for her and that night I could sleep happily knowing I'd given my girlfriend one of the best birthdays she'd probably ever had.

The next day, I worked on closing the deal and by the day after it, I had the keys to our new home and we began the moving process. First, we had Kiara and Vidal view the place and help us out with turning the carpet into hardwood. We cleaned up and made the changes we wanted, then we started bringing in all of our stuff. After Ava moved all her stuff, I helped her get her apartment ready to hand back to the landlord who owned the apartment building. We handled all that, cleaned her old apartment and gave in the keys, then we did the same thing with mine.

It wasn't long before Ava and I were arguing over couches, carpets and kitchen equipment. We argued a lot while moving in, but it was all silly stuff that Kiara usually ended in a matter of seconds. She'd just tell us what she thought, or introduce a third option which we both ended up loving.

One day near the very end of the moving process, Ava was having a very bad, frustrating day and she came home and decided to install a doorknob. She got so angry and frustrated because she was struggling with the doorknob.

"Do you need help, My Love?" I asked her cautiously.

"No. Go away." She said, continuing to struggle with the doorknob.

"Ava, baby... put the screwdriver down." I said to her, taking it from her hands and letting her lean against me with tears streaming down her face. I sat back against the wall and pulled her into my lap.

"I see tears, and a red face, and a not very happy woman... she's shutting me out, she's getting too angry and frustrated... I don't know what's going on." I said. "What's your diagnosis, Doc?"

She let me wipe away her precious tears and push her hair back, then she rested her head against my chest, sniffling a little.

"I love you, Ava." I said softly, rubbing her back.

"I love you." She whispered, sniffling a little at the end.

"You wanna tell me what's going on?" I asked her.

She shook her head.

"I need a diagnosis. Please. I've given you all the symptoms." I told her, kissing her head. "What's your diagnosis, Doc?"

"A bad day." She told me.

"Aw, why?" I asked her.

"A patient." She said.

"What was wrong with the patient?" I asked her.

"It was at the hospital... he said there was something wrong with his heart. Rico left him for me, I listened for problems and there didn't seem to be any, but I got an echo to check it out and realized there actually wasn't anything wrong. I went to go tell him that, but he already knew it. He said something about having been watching me for a while." She told me.

"Baby. Did you tell Rico? What happened? Tell me more." I insisted, feeling very horrified.

He locked the door and I called Rico on my watch, making sure he knew it was urgent. I'm ok. But they found out he's a sexual offender that they've been looking for for ages and he was arrested." She told me.

"You're ok, he didn't hurt you?" I asked her.

"Just my arm a little." She said, showing me her arm.

"Is that the reason behind all these tears?" I asked her, wondering if there was something else.

"No." She told me.

"What is, then?" I asked.

"A patient who I saw today... she was in really bad shape. Her circulation was completely messed up. And her digestive system was basically just done... I got her into urgent care and she passed away in the ICU." Ava said, her tears flowing like rivers now.

"I'm so sorry, Ava." I said to her, kissing her cheek as she cried.

"I don't know what to do anymore. I just feel sad." She told me.

"You wanna leave the doorknob for later and go out?" I asked her.

"Yeah... I wanna go to that street market... that's our place." She told me.

"Ok, we can get corn like every other time." I chuckled, kissing her forehead and she nodded with a little smile.

"The lights are pretty." She told me.

"They are, aren't they?" I chuckled.

"Yeah, I'll go get ready." She told me, getting up and finally going to change out of her scrubs.

She came back out without makeup on, her hair loose and she was in my sweater and a pair of leggings.

"Ready?" I asked her.

She nodded her head, letting me wrap my arms around her.

"How did I get so lucky? I landed the best, most beautiful girl ever." I said, kissing her cheek.

"You're a liar, I look like a zombie." She told me.

"No, you look absolutely breathtaking." I told her.

"Ok, whatever... let's go." She said to me, rolling her eyes. But I could see the little smile tugging at her lips.

"I love you." I said, letting her bring my hand to her lips and kiss the back of it.

"We can get corn and walk around?" She asked me.

"Yup." I nodded.

"And I wanna hear about Lily... what's going on with her lately?" Ava asked me.

"She's doing well." I nodded. "Her grades are going up and nothing too strange or out of the ordinary has happened. She's just been quietly going about her days and hanging out with me when she can."

"And I'll get to meet her at the fair after tomorrow?" Ava asked.

"Yes, you will... I don't know how she'll react though." I chuckled.

"She'll be jealous that her bestie has a girlfriend." Ava laughed.

"I wouldn't be too surprised." I smiled.

"And what about her parents, are they responding to anything yet?" Ava asked me.

"No... not yet." I sighed.

"They're never going to respond either. Can't you just find her a better home. This is so unfair." Ava said, looking up at me expectantly.

"Things might be fine at home, Ava... they might just be very busy." I explained.

"I don't care. Not too busy to answer an email about their daughter or come talk to her teacher to make sure she's ok!" Ava said, getting quite worked up.

"I know... but we can't overstep boundaries... there's this fine line that they just have to cross and then I swear, I'll take action." I said.

"What do they have to do?" Ava asked.

"The bare minimum would be that by the last day of classes, we haven't heard from them at all. At that point we wouldn't let her go home." I explained.

"When was the last time you saw her parents?" Ava asked me.

"When she was in my class two years ago and her mother picked her up from the after school program." I explained.

"That's messed up, Gabe. That was two full years ago... how do you know she's not just running off when no one is looking?" I asked.

"Well, she takes the bus now... so she isn't running off, but we have no way of knowing if she is actually getting to her house." I said.

"Did you talk to the bus driver?" Ava asked me.

"Yup. He said she gets off at the stop and she waits for her parents there." I told her.

"So the driver has seen her parents?" Ava asked.

"No... she waits there for them, they aren't there when the bus comes." I explained.

"Gabriel! Please do something, what if the kid is literally just roaming around the streets?!" Ava said in a panic.

"She isn't." I said.

"How do you know?" Ava asked.

"Because she comes back everyday with a clean set of clothes and her hair is nice and brushed, she's clean... everything is good. There's a home that she's going to where all that stuff is available." I explained.

"And what if it's like, a horrible place and she's like abused or something?" Ava asked.

"That's the thing, you can't assume abuse. I've already assumed neglect, but I can't act until it has been a full year of no contact whatsoever with her parents." I explained.

"And when is that?" Ava asked me.

"It's by the last day of classes... the last time her parents had any contact with the staff at the school, it was the last day of classes last year. Apparently, the principal spoke to her mother." I explained.

"I just don't feel good about that." Ava said to me.

"Me neither." I sighed.

"It's ok. I believe that if things get bad... she'll tell you." Ava said, assuring both of us of something we really didn't know if we could trust.

Ava and I went to the street market that we both liked to go to for our little dates. We bought some boiled corn on the cob because I could actually eat it without getting sick, and we walked along and looked at the beautiful things people were selling. We talked and just enjoyed the beautiful vibes.

Ava felt a lot better after I cracked a few jokes and got her mind off her horrible day. I was just happy that I was able to make her happy and that she wasn't wrestling anymore of our doorknobs.