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“Smartass,” Ainsley replied.

“Soooooo…” Rachel began. “I may need medical attention in other areas of my body as well.”

But Ainsley shook her head, an impish grin on her face.

“Sorry, but your knee injury requires rest,” she stated in her best professional tone of voice. “No sex until you’ve healed.” And she

stood up and made her way out of the bathroom.

“What?” Rachel exclaimed, following her. “I don’t think I agree with your diagnosis!”

In the bedroom, Ainsley turned to face her.

“Is that right?” she asked.

“Yes!”

Crossing her arms, Ainsley said, “Rachel, sweetie…do you know what they give you after you’ve graduated from medical school?”

“A diploma?” Rachel ventured.

Ainsley nodded.

“Right,” she said. “Do you have one of those?”

Rolling her eyes, Rachel said, “No, of course not!”

“Right again. Which means I will trust my own judgement on whether you are capable of having sex. Now, let’s go have dinner.”

And Ainsley started walking out of the bedroom, holding in her laughter.

“Ains, you’re joking right?” Rachel called after her. “Ains?...Ains!”

***

Ainsley decided to stay at Rachel’s again following dinner. She knew, however, that this was getting ridiculous. Not because of how many nights she and Rachel were spending together but because she really needed to get her own house taken care of! She may have managed to get a lot done unpacking-wise this past Saturday but there was still so much left to do.

However, tomorrow was another full day for her in the OR at Scripps Memorial. The last thing she needed was to be lying awake in her own bed thinking of how her beautiful new house still looked like the inside of someone’s storage unit.

Once they had returned home to Rachel’s they’d had another night like the night before: kinda/sorta watching movies while Rachel did some real estate business on her laptop as Ainsley reviewed some information about tomorrow’s procedures on her laptop. It had been peaceful and wonderfully domestic.

At one point, Ainsley had considered how different it would have been had she still been with Casey. Her ex had hated it when Ainsley would do what Casey called “doctor stuff” at night, despite Ainsley’s best efforts to make Casey understand that sometimes it couldn’t be avoided. But Rachel truly seemed chill about it and Ainsley was incredibly grateful for that.

Again they were in bed by nine o’clock. Ainsley insisted that she’d have no problem if Rachel wanted to stay up longer while she herself hit the sack early. But Rachel had shook her head, telling Ainsley that an early bedtime would benefit her also because she was exhausted. Ainsley figured that was a result of nearly being hit by that car earlier.

Now, in bed, with the lights turned off and Ainsley spooning Rachel, she was about to succumb to sleep. But suddenly, Rachel spoke.

“How important?” she whispered.

Ainsley, feeling herself start to tingle all over, kissed the top of Rachel’s head.

“Honestly?” she asked.

“Yes, please.”

Ainsley swallowed.

“More important than most other things, baby,” she whispered.