A/N: Thank you for being so patient with me as I haven't uploaded as much. Been going through some life changes, and then I got pretty sick. Next go around, I'll upload multiple chapters at once. <333

"Can I tell you something?"

I asked Kori this as I lay next to her in bed afterward.

Kori, whose arm was around me, turned to look at me, "Of course, anything."

"You really did make me forget about all the other women I've been with."

It looked like Kori was trying not to smile as she said to me, "Is that so?"

I nodded, "Yes. Not that I've been with a ton of women!"

"Even if you had been, that's your past. Body count doesn't really matter at all," Kori said, her gaze set on me.

"You're right, it doesn't. Though I feel comfortable telling you that I've had 9 partners...now 10."

"I got you to the double digits," Kori chuckled, "Not that it matters as well, were all of those partners women?"

I nodded, "They were, yes. I've known that I was a lesbian since I was young, I didn't really experiment with any guys. How about you?"

"When I was 16 and trying to convince myself I was straight I had a boyfriend, he's still a friend to this day. I had sex with him. Turns out we're both gay."

I couldn't help but laugh, "Hey, at least you both figured yourself out."

Kori ran her hand mindlessly through my hair as she responded, "You know that I was married previously. Did you have any serious relationships?"

I nodded against Kori's chest, "I did. I had a really serious girlfriend for my last two years of college, Josie. I could have sworn I was going to marry her, but she ended things after we graduated. Looking back, it's for the best that she did, even though I was really hurt at the time."

"I understand," Kori murmured, "Something similar happened to me. I had a girlfriend for about 3 years in college, and she ended things right after graduation. That was my only very serious relationship besides my ex-wife, of course."

I paused before asking Kori, with hesitancy, "What happened with you and your ex-wife? You don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable."

"It's okay. I'll share," Kori said slowly, "Jess and I were struggling in our marriage for a little while, she thought I worked too much, which I did. We just weren't seeing eye to eye, and decided to separate, but not divorce. During that separation, she wound up reconnecting with an old boyfriend from high school, and she got pregnant."

"Oh...wow. I am so sorry," I softly responded to Kori.

"It was rough, to say the least. A very hard pill to swallow. I had to accept that she had found someone else, she's still with him now. I was down and out for a while, but I do believe I came out better."

I looked up at Kori, "That must have been...beyond difficult to go through."

Kori looked thoughtful, "It was. There was even a time during that whole situation where I thought her and I could work things out and I would be part of her child's life...but Jess made it very clear that she wanted to be with the man who got her pregnant."

Kori lightly stroked my hair as I said back to her, "I really am sorry that happened to you, Kori. You didn't deserve that."

"You know, at the time I thought that maybe I did. I definitely wasn't a bad wife, but I wasn't attentive enough. If I were to get married again I would do things a lot differently."

Before I could say anything back, Kori asked me, "Are you hungry? I've been told I make really good French toast, I can make you some."

Hm...I feel like she might have wanted to change the subject.

"You know, I've never been a huge fan of French toast. Maybe you can convert me," I chuckled, smiling up at Kori.

"I'd never say no to a challenge," Kori smiled back at me, and we got up from her bed.

I put my clothes back on, and when Kori and I turned to walk out of her room, she spun me back around to face her.

I looked up at her and smiled, "What's up?"

Kori looked suddenly bashful as she said, "Nothing, I just...I'm really glad you're here, Ashley."

I feel my face grow warm at the way Kori was looking down at me. It was a look I hadn't seen from her yet, and I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

But I knew it wasn't bad. That was for sure.

"I'm glad I'm here too, Kori," I said to her, my stomach filling with butterflies.

She flashed me a smile and said back, "Now that we've got that established, let me make you the best French toast you've ever had in your life."

I laughed as Kori thread her fingers through mine, "Let's see what you've got, Kori."

When we walked out to the kitchen, Chester, who was sitting on the couch perked up and ran over to us. Kori reached into a cabinet below the counters and pulled out a bag of dog treats.

"Want to give him a treat?" she asked me, "You'll become his new favorite person."

"Of course," I nodded, and Kori placed a dog treat in my hand.

Right when I held it up for Chester, he gently took it in his mouth and gobbled it down.

I laughed, "He ate that in less than 2 seconds!"

"Feel free to give him another," Kori said, starting to grab ingredients to make the French toast, "He's a good boy."

"Yes you are," I said to Chester, petting him. I then asked Kori, "How old is Chester?"

"He's around 3 years old. I don't know for sure, as I adopted him from a shelter."

I looked at Kori, "That's so great of you. Growing up, my parents always got dogs from breeders. Not that I didn't love the dogs, but I always urged them to get dogs from shelters."

"Chester is my first dog. I was scrolling Facebook, and a friend of mine on there who lives in Maryland now reposted something from the shelter that Chester was at, it was a compilation of photos of dogs that were available. Right when I saw the photo of Chester, and saw how sad his eyes looked, I knew I needed to get him, no matter what. I drove down to Maryland that day and got him. Never looked back."

"And was it the best decision ever?"

Kori looked down at Chester and smiled and then looked back at me, "Pretty much, yes."

As Kori started on the French toast, I sat down on one of the bar stools at her kitchen counter.

"I'm going to use challah bread for the french toast," Kori said, turning around to face me from the stove where she was standing, "I got some from Sunflower the other day, it's delicious, it'll make all the difference."

I chuckled, "I can already tell this is going to be way better than other French toast I've had."

"Oh, it will be."

As Kori continued cooking, she said to me, "I actually got this recipe from a fellow nurse I worked with years ago, Patsy. She was wonderful, treated me like her own daughter. She passed away about a year ago now from breast cancer, it was awful."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," I said to Kori, "Did you remain friends with her?"

"I did, I would call her about once a month. I went to go see her as well not long before she passed. I worked with her for only a year so long ago, yet those bonds don't go away when you work in nursing together, as you know."

"You're right," I said to Kori, "Those bonds don't go away."

Guilt started to set in as I thought about some of my fellow colleagues who had texted me after I left my job, asking how I was doing. I had given them short answers, and some I didn't even answer at all.

"Sorry," Kori said, turning to look at me, "Not to bring up nursing, just in case you don't want to talk about it."

"No, it's okay. It's just...I've had former co-workers of mine text me asking how I am, and if I'm coming back. They've been so kind to me, yet some of them I haven't even responded to."

Before responding, Kori placed the French toast on a plate and walked over to me with it. As she set it down, she said standing next to me, "Well, from what it sounds like, you went through something very traumatic. I don't blame you at all for needing time."

I looked down at the plate of beautifully presented French toast and said to Kori, "Thank you for this, I can't wait to dig in."

Kori looked at the plate and responded, "It would probably help if I brought you a fork."

I couldn't help but laugh as I said, "I was just waiting to see if you'd notice."

Kori shook her head but laughed as well, and she brought over a fork for me. Kori stood across the counter from me and said, "Take a bite. I want to watch as you try the best French toast you've ever had."

"Someone's confident," I said, and I then took a bite of the perfectly golden brown French toast. I closed my eyes for a second and nodded as the flavors of cinnamon, vanilla, and caramelized challah hit my tongue. I opened my eyes and said to Kori, "You win. This is fucking delicious."

A smile appeared on Kori's face, "I'm glad you think so."

She then said to me, "If you don't mind...I want to go back to what we were saying about you feeling guilty for not responding to your former co-workers. I understand, even though I don't know exactly what happened."

I looked at Kori, who was across from me, "I'll tell you."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to feel pressured, it's completely fine if you're not ready to."

"No, it's okay. I know I'll tell you either way, whether it's sooner or later."

Kori nodded and looked at me, "Okay. As long as you're comfortable."

My heart started to thump as I said, "No matter what, I hate talking about it. But I want to tell you. So basically, I had a patient one night in the ER, a man who was a bit older than me. He was extremely erratic, and definitely under the influence of multiple substances."

"Not a great start."

"No, not at all. As I said, he was very erratic, and also super irate. One of the nurses who was younger than me and just graduated from nursing school had him on her roster of patients, but she was frightened by him. I didn't blame her. I volunteered to give him his IV."

Kori's expression was soft as she looked at me, waiting for me to go on.

"When I went into his room, I tried to remain very calm. I've been around super irritated patients before, but this man was unlike any I had experienced. He was immediately cursing and yelling at me, and when I went to give him his IV, he tried to scratch me and bite me, also things I was used to from patients. I was about to get help, when I was able to calm him down for a moment, enough to give him the IV. I thought that I was fine, until in a matter of seconds, he removed the IV...and stuck me with it in the arm."

Kori's eyes widened in horror as I told her this, and she said, "Oh my god. That is a fucking nightmare. What happened from there?"

"I screamed when the patient stuck me out of shock, and a few other nurses came running in. It was all kind of a blur from there, that whole night. I had to wind up getting a bunch of tests done to make sure I didn't contract any illnesses, which I thankfully didn't. But it truly turned me off to nursing. I had handled abuse from patients before...but that was completely different."

"Completely different," Kori said gently, "I understand why you left nursing after that. Something like that is completely traumatizing, and I commend you for even going back to work so soon after that, period."

"I know that I had to go back to work, and I thought about doing something such as being a nurse at a doctors office, but anytime I tried to hype myself up to go back to nursing, I immediately became terrified. It was paralyzing."

Kori looked at me, and then walked over from where she was standing.

I was surprised when she pulled me into a hug. It was a very warm gesture, but I was coming to learn that deep down, Kori was actually a very warm person.

And all I want is to keep knowing her more and more.

A/N as of 11/20/24 - Hi! Just an update on this story, I will be posting the rest of it all at once. It may take a little longer, but you'll have this story completed to read! Thanks so much <333