This is my first attempt at any type of fan fiction whatsoever, so please go easy on me! I've decided to take a modern day approach to tell Anne and Gilbert's story. Pleaselet me know what you think. I hope you'll like it!

Where My Heart Belongs

Chapter 1: Uneasiness

Anne Shirley had difficulty sleeping. Her mind kept drifting back to that dreadful moment two weeks earlier.

Anne and her childhood friend Gilbert Blythe were having yet another typical night home at Gilbert's apartment. They had just enjoyed a great movie on TV when Anne sensed that there was something up with Gilbert.

"What is it?" she asked.

Gilbert was shaking and sweating bullets. Trying to gain his composure, he took Anne's hand.

"I knew that you were the one for me ever since I saw you that first day of school," he began.

Uh oh, Anne thought. Is this going where I think it's going?

"You've had my heart ever since," he continued, "and I want us to be together forever. Anne, will you marry me?"

She was stunned. She had a feeling it was coming but didn't expect it to come so soon. Tears started trickling down her face.

"Oh Gilbert," she cried. "I...I...I can't."

"What!" exclaimed a shocked Gilbert.

"I'm so sorry. I just can't. Can't we go back to the way we were before?"

"But Anne...I don't understand. I love you. I need you."

"Gil, you want someone who cares for you, adores you, and plays the role of a loving housewife and arm candy. I don't know if I can do that."

"But that's not what I want - "

"Oh, Gil! I'm so sorry, oh so sorry!"

She hugged him one last time before running and sobbing out of his apartment. As she drove out of the apartment complex to clear her mind, Gilbert looked out the window and whispered inaudibly, "I love you, Anne Shirley. I hope he breaks your heart whoever he is."

This scene played in Anne's head continuously for two weeks; it was all she could ever think about. Even in her dreams all she could see was Gilbert's pleading, hazel eyes. Those eyes were honest and sincere, and the thought of them made her want to cry.

Unable to fall back asleep, Anne got out of bed and looked out her window into the dark, starry night. Her thoughts wandered back to her youth. Her arrival at Green Gables, the announcement that she finally had a place to call home, her first meeting with her bosom friend Diana Barry, the first day of school, the fateful day that Gilbert entered her life and then broke a small whiteboard over his head, the intense rivalry with him over grades, the day Gilbert rescued her from the pond when she fell in, the news that Gilbert gave up his job at Avonlea just for her...they all remained fresh in her mind. She sighed. She cared a great deal for Gilbert, but was it love? It couldn't be. Her Prince Charming had to sweep her off her feet, slaying the dragon that kept him away from her.

As hard as it was to keep him out of her thoughts, Anne knew she had to go on with her life. Afterall, her job at Kingsport would start soon, and she knew she had to get all the energy she could get to keep up with all those crazy girls. Tired from all her analysis, she hopped back into bed and fell asleep.