| 67 | besties right?

He's the one I prayed for.

~I'm still praying and waiting for mine ;)

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Vanessa can barely sit on the couch with her excitement, she fiddles with her wedding ring, twisting it around her finger,

And I shamelessly watch her cute expression and happiness seeping out of her,

"Ugh why are they taking so long?" she groans letting her head fall back on the couch.

I chuckle and pull her close to me, I kiss her cheek "they'll be here soon, and then you can gossip and squeal as long as you want"

She narrows her eyes at me "I don't squeal and gossip"

"Mhm...I'm sure you don't, you're girls, I guarantee they'll spend ten minutes gushing over your ring and that we're married, they'll cry when you tell them your healthy, and then you'll have them tell you everything that's been happening since you last hung out" I shrug eating a bite of my muffin

Her mouth hangs open and she stares at me "what in the-how? Do you spend time with a group of girls on your breaks? How would you know that" she stutters

I smirk and take another bite and after swallowing I say "you girls are pretty loud, and last time they came here let's just say you three aren't the only ones who have...how did you put it? Juicy tea on people"

She grabs the muffin out of my hand and takes a big bite, "you don't deserve this muffin"

I can't help but smile because even when she has an attitude she's just adorable

"Stop smiling at me like that" she huffs

"I can't help it...I love my wife" I grin at her quickly blushing face

I watch as she attempts to not smile, but she fails as a big grin appears across her face,

"I love you" she mumbles as she looks away with a smile

I pull her flush against my side and kiss her forehead "you want me to leave while you guys hang out here?"

"No, you can stay here" she sighs dramatically

I lift her chin and press a kiss to her lips, happy she's being sarcastic with me instead of feeling down like how the past few months have been.

I'm proud of her, it's been difficult for her after the transplant, guilt weighed her down for a while, and I had to keep a watch over her to make sure she wasn't feeling depressed in any way, she went through rehab to help with the healing, but it was a long difficult process.

It was hard on me when we went to thank the family who gave their heart to me, but we got through it together.

There's been a lot of tears, and some anger, but she's strong and has come out with a smile on her face.

Today she and Zara, and Ava finally all have free time to get together and catch up, and I know it will be a full day of talking for them since Vanessa took the time to focus on her health for a while.

"You know...you should find friends to gossip with," she says quietly after a moment

"Yeah?" I reply with a smirk

She snuggles into my side as she nods "I hate to think of you being lonely"

"How can I ever be lonely when I have you as my best friend?" I reply as I kiss the top of her head

She stays quiet as she plays with the end of my shirt, she turns and hugs me, Inhaling deeply and letting out a content sigh

"You're my best friend too," she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice

"But don't you want another best friend?" She whispers as she looks up at me with concern

I smile and caress her chin "you're enough for me, and always will be"

"Now you're making me feel like crap for wanting friends so badly" she whispers with a sad laugh

I kiss her lips softly "you deserve friends beautiful"

"And what, you don't?" She frowns

"That's different... girls' minds race fifty miles an hour, you always think of the past, present, and future all at the same time, you need someone to talk to, to calm you when you overthink, and to be there to listen to you. If you haven't noticed...guys like fixing problems, we have a hard time just keeping quiet and listening"

"Alright...you aren't wrong there, but I feel like everyone needs friends, no matter how you twist it, you need people who you can turn to when times are hard, you need guys who you can be guys with" she cups my face inching towards me

I grin and kiss her again because I can't resist when she's so close "yeah and how does one make friends?"

She shrugs "I think it just happens..."

I chuckle "yeah? Well I'll be just fine with you"

She rolls her eyes and kisses my nose and then there's a knock on the door, Vanessa's off me and already out of my sight opening the door before I can stand,

I can't help but chuckle at her adorable excitement, I hear her gasp and then squeal, then some laughs

"Aaron, I found your friend" Vanessa yells from the doorway, and I hear a grin in her voice,

I curiously walk to the door and see Enzo Moretti watching his wife with love as she gushes over Vanessa's ring, and Ava rambling to Zara,

"Enzo came to drop Zara off since the daycare his kids go to is near...and Ava's kids go there too, Ava's husband is stuck in a meeting, so maybe you can go hang out with Enzo, and become friends?" Vanessa rambles with a small smile

I smirk "are you kicking me out?"

Her smile turns to a grin as she nods "yep, bye-bye, and while you're at it you could help babysit Ava and Zara's kids"

I laugh and kiss her "fine, but if anything you call me got it?"

She gasps "awe he is your friend! You didn't fight me on this"

Enzo chuckles darkly "yeah we're what do you girls call it? besties right Aaron?"

I watch all the girls grinning, I'll give them what they want, and just to see my beautiful wife smile I grab my coat, "yeah...besties indeed, now let's go before I change my mind and kick all of your asses out and keep my wife all to myself"

Vanessa stands on her tippy toes as she cups my face "stay safe, I love you"

"I love you, you have fun" I kiss her before leaving with apparently my new friend

"Just so you're aware...this was all my wife's idea, she and the girls have a group chat, and Vanessa was saying how you needed a friend or some shit" Enzo sighs as he heads to the elevators

I snort "of course she did, that's why she went on a rant before you guys came about friends"

"I guess we should pick your guy's kids up" I sigh

"We'll just go in my car" he nods to the SUV, and I raise a brow

He rolls his eyes "not my choice, but sometimes I need to pick up all kids or Matteo does-that's Ava's husband, we all share this car for the kids"

I nod "got it"

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"So what do you do for fun?" Enzo asks after us just sitting in quietly as he drives

"Hang out with my wife" I answer easily

"Anything else?" He asks

"Watch stupid Disney movies with my wife as she rambles on about how much she loves them" I answer once again easily

He smirks "anything else...that doesn't have to do with your wife?"

"She's my source of joy...so no" I shrug

"What about you?" I ask

He sighs "I guess we'll have to be besties indeed cus we have the same thing in common, my wife's my source of joy too...well, and my children as well"

I shake my head with a smirk "so what? Do we just talk about our wife's all day long with each other"

"I mean I can talk about my wife all day long, and I think we can say we're close since I had a part in helping get Vanessa back to you...trauma binds people together" he shrugs

I slowly nod "so...how'd you two meet?"

"My daughter stole a slice of cake from her bakery" he smirks and slowly chuckles as he parks the car at the daycare

I raise my brows keeping my laugh in "well, I can't wait to meet this little thief then"

"No I can't stop crying! This is amazing Vanessa, now we can all take married trips together, and have gossip sessions every week" Zara cries with joy as she hugs me

"God that man is something else...he took the whole giving you his heart thing literally" Ava laughs in between her cries

I smile "he's my hero...literally"

"So now that you're married what's your plans? Kids? No kids? Moving somewhere else? Are you going to stay his assistant?" Zara rambles after gathering herself together

"I don't think I want to have kids of my own....because there's a big chance they'd get my heart failure gene, I need to talk more about this with Aaron, but I'd want to try adopting in the future, I've thought a lot about it and I just don't think having biological children is the best path to take." I smile slightly and take a bite of the cake Zara brought with her here,

Zara nods understandingly, and Ava watches me with a small smile "I'm proud of you...I'm sure it's really difficult to make that kind of decision, but there are lots of kids out there waiting to be loved"

I nod at Ava "yeah...and I'm hoping that mine and Aaron's future will have adoption in it"

"And to answer the other questions, I honestly love the place we have right now and I don't see us moving out for a while...unless we decide to adopt, then I'd want to consider building a house or something, and as for the assistant job, Aaron wouldn't survive without me, and I love working with him so I'm going to stay as his assistant, just work fewer hours as per Aaron's request so I can have more time for the homeless organization" I roll my eyes with a chuckle

Zara grins "it's cute how obsessed he is with you, I could tell when we came in, the way he stared at you, how he could just see what you needed, and how he went with Enzo because he knew that's what you wanted...it was sweet"

I chuckle "yeah...well Enzo also only agreed because he's smitten with you"

She nods dreamily "he's whipped that's for sure...you shoulda seen him before me" she laughs

"Yeah and my husband was just fine before me" Ava huffs

Zara bursts out laughing "that's only because he's funny, he's so much better with you, the man would probably tear off his limb for you if you'd ask"

| approximately five and a half hours later |

"That's what I'm saying!" Ava laughs just as we hear keys jingling and the door opens,

Enzo walks in with kids running in front, straight towards Zara and Ava "mommy!!" The twins run to Zara

Just as Ava's kids run to her

"Hi mom" Mia grins

Zara kisses her forehead "how was school, my big girl"

"Great, I made two friends!" Mia grins widely

"Hey Ragazza carina" Enzo smiles kissing Zara briefly (pretty girl)

I feel larger hands cup my face from behind, lifting my head backward and tilting it I see Aaron, I smile as I watch him lean in "hi sunshine, I told them they could stay here since we ran out of things to do after a while, I hope you had enough gossip time alone"

"That was sweet of you, and yeah we had enough time," I say as a overwhelming feeling of joy overtakes my body

"Good" he smiles as he pecks my lips quickly.

---notes---

Another bonus chapter, because I can't help but love to put out happy parts for you guys.

I'm on like a roll with getting more chapters out for you guys recently ahaha

I know this was a little short but it's a sweet one so hope that makes up for it (and also hope you loved seeing the characters from piece of cake appear here)

Damn...like 2 more chapters until the end🫢

Word count: 2126