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Ashton.

"Ash- I do not think we are allowed back here!" Ava panicked as I held her hand firmly, pulling her through a few doors, knowing I had seen a first aid kit somewhere back here when we were helping set everything up.

"Ah ha" I spoke out as soon as I saw it, taking it off the wall and focusing to her.

I swiftly lifted her to sit on the counter, feeling her grab me firmly as I did.

"A little warning would've been nice" she laughed, holding my arm firmly as she watched me focus to the box, pulling out bandaids and such.

"Sorry baby" I smiled to her before unclasping her heels, pulling them off, immediately seeing several marks that had been rubbed completely raw, one of them actually bleeding.

"Why didn't you bring this up to me sooner, baby we could've prevented it from getting worse" I told her calmly, grabbing alcohol wipes and Neosporin.

"I didn't want to bother" she spoke simply, making me shake my head.

You could never be a bother.

"This might burn a little" I spoke right before I touched the alcohol to the worst one, feeling her quickly grab my shoulder

"Yeah- it fucking does."

I blew air from my mouth on it before quickly moving to the next, knocking them all out before she could even argue against us.

I quickly put the Neosporin on them before covering them with thick bandaids, putting her shoes back on carefully, making sure there were no other places that felt pain.

"I'm good Ash, I promise" she smiled as I checked them once more before actually clasping them back.

"You'll let me know if a different place starts hurting?" I asked her, seeing her grin

"Yes, I promise" she spoke before gently pulling me by my shirt, kissing my lips firmly, making me immediately kiss her back.

"We better get back out there before they assume we are doing something we aren't supposed to be doing."

I helped her down, taking her hand and walking with her back out.

The rest of the night was spent just catching up with other doctors and surgeons and their spouses.

I was soon sitting, feeling Ava's hands touching my back gently, making me pull her to the side of me, making her stand between my legs as I took her hand into my own, playing with one of the rings on her finger.

I watched as a partially drunk Sierra sat in Luke's lap, kissing him firmly, which made him smile.

"We should probably get going soon" he spoke, never looking away from Sierra, making each of us smile.

"Yeah it's getting late." Michael spoke, making the chief walk over

"Did I just hear the youngest surgeons in this building say that it was getting late? We have this building rented out until two am, it's barely past midnight- come on guys" he laughed lightly as I kissed Ava's knuckles, making her look to me, gently rubbing her fingers through my hair before focusing back to the conversation.

We ended up staying longer after hearing bullshit from three other people about us trying to leave too early.

Ava soon had her heels completely off, leaned against a now completely drunk Sierra and not even focused to our conversation, which made me realize how tired she was.

"You ready to go?" I asked her, seeing her look to me.

"No- we can stay longer" she only said it because she didn't want me to leave because of her

"No baby girl, I feel like I can hear a bath saying our names right now."

That's all it took.

I got into the bubble bath, feeling her shortly after join me, her bare back leaning against my chest, my arms immediately wrapping around her as I kissed her shoulder.

"Thank you for tonight." She told me calmly, making me rub her shoulders gently, splashing the bubble bath water over her carefully.

"Thank you for tonight." I reiterated, making her turn her head, connecting our lips gently.

"Ashton?" She spoke calmly, completely relaxing into my hold, making me feel so happy.

"Yes, lovebug?"

"Don't freak out, okay?" I felt my heart palpitate at her words, just those words made me want to freak out.

"I'll try my best" I spoke calmly

"I love you" she spoke, making me instantly want to jump out of the bathtub and celebrate, but yet I was almost upset that she beat me to getting the balls to say it.

"I love you too, Ava." I told her firmly, grabbing her chin and making her look to me, but immediately seeing tears in her eyes, making me panic.

"What's wrong?" I pulled her to make her completely face me, not worried about our bodies or anything else in the moment, just wanting her okay.

"It just- it's scary to love you." Her voice sounded as if it was about to give into a cry.

"Because every single person that I've ever loved has died- and I don't think I can take it if I lose you."

I instantly kissed her, pecking her lips and cheeks multiple times after.

"Ava, mark my words" I told her firmly

"I will never ever leave you, I will fight with every bone in my body to be here with you for the rest of our lives."