After we finished the book, Lily didn't bother moving. She just sat in my lap and read book after book. Eventually, she began to slip to one side and one boy looked over and giggled, then he put a finger over his lips.

"She's sleeping." He whispered with a laugh.

I smiled and moved her into a more comfortable position on my lap. She was one of the most adorable children I'd ever seen in my life. She had blue eyes and jet black hair. She had the most adorable little face and the cutest toothy grin. I don't know what it was about her, but she was definitely my favourite student. I'd never tell anyone of course, it was every teacher's secret that they had a favourite.

Once it was time for her to go home, I nudged her gently.

"Hey, Lily... Sweetheart. It's time to go home." I said gently.

She opened her eyes and she saw me, then she moved and hugged me, wrapping her arms around my neck and resting her head on my shoulder.

"It's time to go home." I said, making her shake her head.

I eventually got her to detach herself, telling her I'd see her the next day. I set her down and tucked her hair behind her ear and then I smiled.

"Do you want to have extended reading time tomorrow?" I asked her.

She nodded her head vigorously, a shy smile appearing on her face.

"Alright. I'll let you read more, but will you write me a little summary for every story? That way I can know which ones are good and which ones are not so good? You can rate them for me and that way I'll know. Would you like that?" I asked her.

The truth was, Lily didn't learn like the others. She refused to be social most of the time, and while other kids would sit and listen to me, she just wanted to read. I had no interest in forcing Lily to sit with us all if she didn't want to. That wouldn't be fair to her. My plan was to give her some books that would teach her the things I was teaching the others.

"Yes." She smiled.

"Ok. I'll get you some books." I said to her, giving myself a very difficult project to work on. But for the sake of this sweet little girl, I would do it.

I was formulating my plan in my head as I drove home that day. My plan was to ask Ari to help me come up with stories. I would ask Nana to help me draw the illustrations for the stories and then I'd print them for Lily and make them look like real published books. I needed books that fit my lessons.

My goal wasn't just to teach my students the alphabet and send them off to the first grade. I wanted to get them excited to learn new things, to get them to do activities that taught them things. Sometimes I taught them complicated things that they wouldn't need to know for a very long time. But at least they'd have that basic knowledge somewhere.

As I was thinking about that, I saw one of the flying cars flying on level two. Which was one level above the other cars. It started slowing to a stop and then I saw all its lights turn off and it fell on top of another car on level one, causing that car to slide out of control and into middle of an intersection. A bus drove right into it and so did a few other cars. Others swerved around the pile up and I immediately drove away to safety and parked my car.

I was running back to the crash when I saw people emerging from their damaged cars safely.

The bus was in bad shape and there were people helping others out. The injuries were pretty serious, but the worst was probably the vehicles in the centre. I helped a few injured people out of the bus before my attention was drawn elsewhere.

"There's a woman in that car!" Someone said, pointing to the car in the middle of all of this.

I ran over and saw the woman. She wasn't in good shape at all. She was basically squished between her seat and the steering wheel.

I immediately started climbing over one of the cars, hoping to get her out of there and get her to safety. I was able to lay across the hood of the car beside her.

"Hey. Can you hear me, Ma'am?" I asked her.

She didn't respond, freaking me out a little bit.

"Ma'am. Can you hear me? If you can please move or speak." I called.

She didn't move or speak.

I couldn't see her face, but my guess was that she was unconscious.

I tried to push the window down further so I could reach into the car and maybe find a way to get her out of there.

The second I pushed down on the window, it shattered beneath my hands and a piece got stuck in my arm. I knew I should leave it, so I just moved on. I reached over and checked the woman for a pulse. She still had one, which was amazing. I reached in for the door handle, displacing the glass in my arm and deepening my wound.

I hissed in pain, but I was able to find the door handle with my hand. If only I could move this vehicle away from the woman's car, I could get her out.

I lifted my body off the hood of the car and tried to squeeze myself between the woman's car and the one I was just laying on. I was able to get in there, then I pushed with everything in me. Effectively moving the car enough that it wasn't squishing me much anymore.

I tried opening her door to see if she could squeeze through. But it wasn't possible for anyone, no matter how slim, to get through that tiny gap.

I closer her door again and started pushing the car. It baffled me how uninjured people were getting out of their cars and watching, videotaping, snapping photos, yet no one was trying to help me save this woman. I was able to move the car enough so that I could get the woman out of the car. As soon as I opened the door, I shook the woman, trying to wake her. She was still unconscious, but her heart was still beating, her pulse was still there, but it was definitely fading.

I saw an ambulance finally arriving and I pulled the woman out of the car and threw her over my shoulder. She wasn't light at all, but my body didn't let that stop it. The amount of adrenaline running through me was incredible. I ran over to the paramedics and they had a stretcher ready. I placed her on it and they got her into the ambulance, immediately beginning their first aid procedures. I got in with the woman, having someone check on my arm. They said they couldn't do anything until we got to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, my brother in law, Federico, saw me and ran his hand over his face in frustration. I was clumsy enough that I ended up there way too often.

"What the hell did you do to yourself this time?" He asked me.

"I saved a woman... give me a break." I said.

"What happened?" He asked.

"A huge pile up about ten kilometers away from here." I said to him.

He nodded and then finally spotted my bleeding arm.

"What the hell, Gabriel?!" He asked, looking down at my arm.

"Fix it, please." I said, holding my arm out.

His watch started going off and he looked down at it, cursing under his breath.

"Yeah, no. I can't. I'm needed." He said.

I watched as about ten ambulances came rolling in by the back door of the emergency room.

Apparently, all the doctors were called to the emergency room as several stretchers were being wheeled in.

"Dr. Dara. This young man needs stitches." Rico said, pushing me into a small emergency room.

"Alright." I heard her before I saw her.

Before I knew it, a stunning female doctor walked into the room, opening a cupboard and grabbing some things for my arm. Her straight brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her beautiful dark brown eyes were messing with my heartrate. She looked like she'd had a tough day though, she looked tired. She turned to me and looked into my eyes. Maybe it was my ego messing with me, but I saw her eyes widen a little.

"Hello, Sir. Please, sit down." She said to me, pointing to the little bed beside her.

"Well, hello there, Doc. My arm needs help." I said, like a complete idiot.

"I can see that." She said, narrowing her eyes at me in confusion. She thought I was stupid already.

I just sat down and held out my bleeding arm for her.

"So.... What's your diagnosis, Doc?" I asked, realizing how stupid I sounded as I said it.

"Uhm.... are you serious?" She asked me.

"Uh... yes." I said, deciding to stick to my stupidity.

"A foreign body has penetrated your skin and remains embedded in the tissue of your arm." She said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Wow... I didn't think you could actually make this sound complicated, but good job, I guess." I chuckled.

"Alright, may I begin or do you have questions for me?" She asked.

"You can do anything you want to me... uhm... sorry, that sounded weird.... yes, begin." I said nervously.

I was beginning to feel weak, my arm was bleeding a lot. She put some gloves on, grabbed a pair of tweezers and picked up a piece of gauze with them. She put something on the gauze and started dabbing around the large shard of glass.

She then grabbed a needle and she started injecting something around the wound.

"Are you ready?" She asked me, and maybe it was me, but that question seemed to be meant for herself rather than me.

"Yeah." I nodded.

She looked down at the large piece of glass and she started pulling on it with her hand. I couldn't feel it, which told me that whatever it was she injected was a local anesthetic.

She was able to remove the piece of glass and then she closed the wound, wrapping it up with a large cloth and pressing down on it as blood began to gush out more quickly. I winced a little at the minor pain, but she clearly knew what she was doing because the bleeding quickly slowed to a stop.

A nurse walked in to assist her and she sent the nurse off to get an ultrasound device. When the nurse came back, I decided I didn't want to witness what they were going to do next. I could barely feel it and I didn't need to see it.

This doctor was very good at her job. She was quick and she got the job done very painlessly and easily.

"Alright, Sir. You're good to go." She said, throwing her gloves out and sighing.

She grabbed her clipboard and her pen. She flipped through a few forms and then she signed off on some papers and handed them to me.

"You have a follow up for your arm in a week." She told me. "Any questions?"

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Dr. Dara." She said.

"No, I meant your full name." I chuckled.

"Ava. Doctor Ava Dara." She told me, looking into my eyes as her expression changed.

"Well, Ava.... It seems like I'm being referred to Dr. Ferrari's care.... Which means you aren't my doctor." I said.

"And...?" She said.

"So... will you maybe consider going out for coffee with me one day?" I asked.

"Sorry. I don't date patients." She said.

"And I'm not your patient." I said.

"I'm not going out with you." She said to me, handing me another form and turning around, walking away. She seemed hurt and angry.

I immediately followed after her, not wanting the interaction to end this way.

"Hey! Doctor Dara! Wait!" I called out.

She turned around and she looked me dead in the eye, seeming unimpressed.

"I overstepped boundaries. I get it. I'm sorry." I said to her.

She nodded, not saying anything.

"I truly am sorry. I didn't mean to offend you in any way. I just thought you were stunning and I couldn't help myself. But I understand... I'm sorry." I said.

"Apology accepted. Thank you." She nodded.

"I won't give up though. I can see there being something between us. I understand your reluctance, but I have to try. And I will show you that I'm worth it. All I ask for is one date." I told her.

She rolled her eyes and she walked away from me. She tugged the hair elastic out of her hair and went into the break room.

"Good job, little bro." Federico said, clapping me on my back and laughing at my failure.

"I was just honest. I can't let it pass... she's special." I told him.

"Well, next time, just don't be so.... Pushy." He told me.

"Girls are seriously confusing." I sighed, hugging Rico quickly before heading towards the exit. I had another project now. The first was books for Lily and the second was getting a certain doctor to go out for coffee. Just once, that's all I asked, and then if she still didn't like me, I wouldn't push.

But how to get that stubborn doctor to go out with me was the difficult thing. I liked how strong she was. How she held herself like she didn't need anyone and she didn't let anyone push her around. That was the kind of woman I needed in my life. A strong one. Like Momma, Auntie Bella, Sophie, Haze and Em, and even Ari. They were all somewhat sensitive, but also very strong in their own ways. Their stories taught me both what to look for in a woman and how women deserve to be treated.

It felt wrong for me to push Ava. It felt like that would be unfair to her. But I decided I'd keep a distance if I had to.