"Alright, Lily. Let me in, Sweetie." I said to my six year old daughter who insisted that she needed to get ready with her mother and kicked me out of my own bedroom.

We were getting ready for her adoption day. We were going to the courtroom to make everything official and my baby was very excited.

"No, Daddy. Just girls." I heard my princess say.

"Lily, let Daddy in so he can get his clothes." Ava said to her.

She may or may not have been mad at me for kissing Mommy too much last night in bed.

"No! Then he'll touch you and kiss you too much!" Lily said.

"It's ok, baby. Daddy's just trying to show Momma some love." Ava explained to her.

"I don't want him to." Lily said.

"Alright, maybe he'll promise not to do that. Ask him." Ava said.

"Daddy, do you promise not to kiss Mommy too much or touch her too much?" Lily asked.

"I promise." I said, watching the door finally unlock and open.

I couldn't help it though, I mean, my fiancé was looking like an Angel. She had a blazer on that just made her look like the hottest woman on earth.

I looked down at my adorable daughter, who was matching her momma's white long sleeve shirt and white pants with a light blue blazer on top. Lily was wearing the same colours but it was an adorable little dress.

"Mommy, can you do my hair now?" Lily asked, rushing back over to Ava who was applying lip balm to her lips.

I wrapped my arms around Ava's waist and pulled her into me.

"I love you, baby." I told her, kissing her cheek. "You're the most breathtaking woman that has ever walked this earth... God, look at you."

"Daddy, stop it! You're being a weirdo." Lily groaned.

"Look at how lucky I am." I said, picking my daughter up.

"I have the most beautiful woman in the world to call my own and goodness, look at my little princess. Have you ever seen such a pretty little thing before?" I asked, squishing my baby girl's cheeks.

"Nope, she's the cutest, prettiest, smartest little girl ever!" Ava giggled, kissing her forehead.

Lily turned a little red and then she hopped down off the vanity and ran off in search of her new best friend.

"Daddy! Can I go outside while I wait for you guys?! James wants to play!" She called out.

"As long as she doesn't get the dress dirty." Ava told me.

"Be careful not to get yourself all muddy, baby! But yes, you can play with him outside." I called down to her.

"Thank you, Daddy!" She laughed, and I heard James barking happily in the backyard only seconds later.

I'd built a high fence around the backyard to prevent James from running off into the street or woods and hurting himself. Adopting James was just about the best decision I'd ever made in my life. Because Lily played with him all the time, and I had time with my girl.

"Kiss time!" I said, spinning Ava around and pulling her into me.

She giggled and kissed me deeply. Those soft lips drove me insane. I just wished I could have these moments with her more often. I was more in love than ever before, even though we didn't have much time alone. Seeing her take care of our daughter only made my love overflow. I couldn't describe what it felt like to be a team with this amazing woman.

Ava just knew what to do sometimes when I was completely lost. She was so smart and good at solving problems. She made me feel like I was never alone in anything. I saw how hard she worked to keep up with her career and our little family and it meant so much to me. She made sure we always had time to talk to each other about our days and our feelings. Without that I never would've survived.

I wasn't really one to cry, I rarely ever did unless something really hurt. But with Lily and James around and the stress of paperwork and getting them both fed all while Ava was working, I found myself in tears a few times. I was easily overwhelmed these days.

Life with Lily felt like just one obstacle after the other. I just couldn't keep track of what on earth was going on around me. One second she's giggling about her strawberries and the next one of them fell and the biggest tantrum ever is thrown. She was like an explosion ready to make a mess for me to have to clean up.

But then Ava would come home and as tired as she was, she'd give me a break, somehow having this calming effect on Lily. She'd just lay down with her on the couch sometimes, and I wondered how on earth she was able to do that. If I tried it, Lily would just start jumping on me or something. After she gave me a little bit of a break, we'd eat together, watch a movie, do something much calmer than I was used to, and then Lily would actually go to bed early. Which gave Ava and I about an hour or so together before our little princess came to our bed for cuddles.

During our private time together, I'd let out my tears if I had any and Ava would make everything feel so much better. Just hearing about her day and seeing how happy she was with everything made my life infinitely better. Some days she'd tell me she wanted to take a day off and spend it with Lily, which gave me the chance to go help Sophie out at the restaurant, or go see the boys at the wildlife park.

"You ok, baby?" Ava asked me, running her fingers through my hair.

"Yeah, I just can't believe how perfect you are. I wouldn't be able to do anything without you." I said, leaning down and kissing her deeply again.

"You know... I never thought I'd say this... but... I really, really want us to be married now." Ava said, her hand having scrunched my shirt up while we were kissing.

I looked at her to see her turning pink and I knew exactly what she was trying to say.

"Soon... we'll make sure to make it soon." I said to her.

"Do you think we're settled enough? Because I want Lily with Remi and Julie on our wedding night and I don't know if she's ready for that yet." She explained.

"She's ready, baby... it's not like we're leaving her there forever." I said.

"That's true, we aren't." She agreed. "But how about we talk to her about it?"

"Alright, when we get home tonight, we can have some snacks and family time and maybe even a movie night." I said.

She nodded with a smile, kissing me again.

"And also.... I've got something to discuss with you." I said to her.

"What is it?" She asked, curiously.

"About your last name, baby." I said to her, kissing her on those pretty lips and picking Lily up as she ran at me.

"Oh." She said, seeming worried about the conversation.

"Mommy! I like your last name!" Lily giggled, having no idea what we were talking about. I could tell Ava was very nervous though.

"Hey, don't sweat it, Gorgeous. Of all the things I could care about, your name is not one of them. Ok?" I asked her.

"I'm gonna be Lily Morelli today! I care about that!" Lily said with a frown.

"Yeah. You're taking your daddy's name..." I told her.

"Mommy already has her daddy's name." Lily said.

"Yup. She has her daddy's name and when she marries me, she can either take my name or keep her daddy's." I explained.

"Oh... am I gonna take my husband's name?" Lily asked.

"I think that's completely your decision, baby. Don't let anyone tell you what to do with your name, ok?" I said to my daughter.

"Yeah... or you'll beat them up, right daddy?" She asked me.

"If they ever do anything even the tiniest bit bad to my baby, I'll beat them up." I nodded, kissing her cheek.

"And if anyone does anything bad to Mommy.... Then—" Lily started.

"Then I'll end them." I said, pulling Ava into my arms and kissing the top of her head.

"How do you end a person, daddy?" Lily asked me.

"That's for Daddy's to know and little ones to never find out." I said, tickling my little girl.

"Ok, let's go! We need to make me Lily Morelli, now!" Lily insisted.

"Ok. Let's go." I laughed, putting my little girl down and letting her bounce out of the room happily. Ava still looked nervous.

"Ava... forget what I said ok?" I said to her. "That's why we're talking about it later, so you don't have to worry about it now." I said to her.

"I just don't want to upset you." She sighed.

"Upset me? You haven't even heard what I want yet... don't worry about upsetting me, ok? I want you to be whoever you chose to be, ok? In the end, you're still my gorgeous wife." I smiled, kissing her forehead.

"Ok. Right now let's focus on our daughter who is most likel-" Ava started.

"Mommy! Daddy! Hurry up and stop kissing!" Lily screamed.

I laughed and followed Ava down to the car.

"Who's driving? I asked Ava.

"Me!" Lily cheered.

"Nice try, try again in ten years." I chuckled, picking Lily up and strapping her into the back seat.

"Aw, that's mean, Daddy." She pouted.

"No it isn't... it's actually me being very nice... so we can all be safe." I laughed.

"I'm a good driver!" Lily objected.

"Sure you are, fancy pants." I laughed, kissing her forehead.

"I'm not even wearing pants, Daddy." Lily said, sighing dramatically as if I was someone who was driving her crazy.

"Alright, alright, I'm driving and Lily is gonna be nicer to Daddy." Ava said.

"But Daddy is fun to tease." She giggled.

"I agree." Ava laughed.

"You two... you're gonna drive me crazy." I laughed, plopping in the front seat beside Ava.

Both my girls giggled and off we were to make Lily our daughter and officially adopt her. It took quite a bit of time, but Lily knew what we were doing and she was very patient and very well behaved the whole time.

By the time we got home, Lily was exhausted and so was Ava. Both of them collapsed on the couch and I smiled, setting down the pizza that Sophie made for us on the coffee table.

"Movie night time?" Lily asked.

"Yes. Let's eat and then we can shower and get in our pyjamas then bring out all the snacks." I said.

"Yay!" Lily giggled, occupying her Momma's lap.

I smiled at my girls and I laid myself down across the couch and placed my head in Lily's lap. Ava's hand started rubbing my arm comfortingly and Lily poked my cheek playfully.

"What were you gonna tell Mommy about her name?" Lily asked.

"Let's eat first and then have that conversation." I said, grabbing a slice of pizza and then taking a bite.

James came over and sat cuddled into me so I could pet him. Once we were done eating, Lily went and took a bath with Ava there to make sure she didn't use the whole bottle of shampoo like last time.

After I finished my shower, Ava and Lily spent another little while in the bathroom and both my girls came out in robes.

"Mommy's gone paint strawberry nails for me!" Lily giggled.

"And toenails too?" I asked.

"Yes!" She giggled. "And I'll paint your toenails pink, Daddy!"

"Uhm.... How about you don't, princess?" I laughed.

"I want to... Mommy said I could." Lily said.

"Of course she did. You can paint my toenails, baby." I said, taking Lily from Ava who wanted to go change.

"No! Me and Mommy are gonna change into our pyjamas together, Daddy! She'll help me." Lily said.

"Ok." I chuckled, going down to the living room and bringing out all of my girls' favourite snacks, then turning on their favourite movie and waiting for them.

They both came down wearing strawberry onesies and I smiled at the sight of them.

"Hm.... I think that I had one little strawberry but she infected my fiancé and now I have a little strawberry and a momma strawberry." I laughed.

Ava chuckled and she climbed onto my lap, hugging me and letting Lily begin her toenail painting.

"So, about the name..." Ava said.

"Yes." I nodded.

"What do you want?" Ava asked me.

"I just don't want you to have to be Dr. Morelli. I'm not the man that paid for your tuition and helped you study when you were little and encouraged you when it was hard. I didn't stand by you in your journey to becoming a doctor. So why should my name be there as if I'm the one who helped you earn that degree?" I asked her. "You should be Dr. Dara. The woman who made a name for her father, made him proud."

"You're really something else." Ava chuckled.

"So, what do you want?" I asked her.

"Honestly? I want to be Dr. Dara... I just don't like the idea of taking my husbands last name.... I just don't understand why we do that? I love you with all my heart and I'm yours, Gabe... but I'm still myself, I'm still Ava Dara..." Ava told me.

"And that's who I want you to be. I love you so much too, baby, this whole name changing thing never meant anything to me. I wanted to talk about it because I didn't think it would be right if you changed your name to Ava Morelli. You're not Dr. Morelli, you're Dr. Dara!" I smiled, kissing Ava on her forehead.

"That's really what you want?" She asked me.

"Yes. I'm marrying an independent woman who didn't have me as part of her identity and that's kinda part of why I love her. Just because we're getting married doesn't mean you need to change your name, people don't ask me to change my name, so why should they ask you?" I asked her.

"Thank you, Teach. That makes me really happy." She giggled, planting kisses all over my face.

"So, you guys are gonna get married?" Lily asked.

"Uhm... yeah, but not immediately." I said to Lily.

"But why, Daddy?" Lily asked me.

"Because it'll be kind of hard." I said.

"No! I want you and Mommy to get married! Please! I can wear a pretty dress too!" Lily giggled.

"Lily, when we get married, we're gonna go somewhere special on the night of the wedding and we're gonna want to be together alone." Ava explained.

"I know, I know.... Because you two love each other and you wanna kiss a lot." Lily said, rolling her eyes.

Both Ava and I laughed, looking at our crazy daughter.

"I want you guys to get married, I know I'll have to stay somewhere for the night, but that's ok... it's just one night, right?" She asked, looking up at us.

I looked at Ava who hesitated before nodding.

"Right.... Just one night." Ava said.

"And the honeymoon, my love?" I asked Ava.

"The honeymoon..... we'll figure that out later, we can just do the one night then work from there." Ava said to me.

"Ok, just one night.... At first." I nodded.

"Ok, then hurry up! When is the wedding?" Lily asked.

"Relax, baby... it'll be soon." Ava chuckled.

"Soon, like when?" Lily asked.

"First, I want you to meet the family. So you can get used to them and then you'll stay with Nora at her house, ok?" I told Lily.

"Ok.... But I want my Mommy and Daddy to be married." She said.

"Why?" Ava chuckled.

"Because I want you guys to be happy, and you'll be happier if you got married, I know you will!" Lily said with a smile.

"Yeah, we will be happy to be married, but we'll need more private time, Lily... you know that right?" Ava said.

"Yeah, yeah, to kiss and stuff." Lily said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

I chuckled and smiled at my sweet little girl.

"You guys can have private time because I'm gonna be in my library more and I'm going to spend more time with James outside, ok?" Lily said.

"Ok." I laughed. "But even if we're having private time and you need us, you have to come to us, ok? You just knock on the door and Mommy and Daddy will come help you out."

"I know, Daddy. I'm your big girl, remember?" Lily said.

"Yes, you are. My big, smart, crazy baby." I laughed, looking down at my pink toes. "And I have pink toes.... Lovely."

Both my girls laughed and I started our movie while my toes dried and while Ava painted Lily's nails.