Author's note: ok, I decided to write this fan fic for the heck of it. I am a HUGE Anne of Green Gables fan. I am not a good writer so put up with me. I always wondered what would happen if Walter came back, hence the subject of the fic. Please don't flame, I hate those especially since this is my first fic.
Disclaimer: no, I don't own these characters L.M. Montgomery or her very rich descendents do. (blab, blab ,blab)
I would like to dedicate this to my great friend Keinami aka Yahiko. I know most of you will not have heard of her, because she writes in the anime section, but she has some very funny fics in the anime section, she got me into the internet and fan fics.
The Never Fading Rose by marzoog
Chapter 1, "The Homecoming"
At the train station of Glen St. Mary, in a time when a little dog kept vigil there, a tall soldier steeped off the evening train. He had an unusual look about him, with black hair and the most unusual gray eyes. The station manager gathered that they once had been filled with warmth, laughter and poetry, but now they looked as if this personage would always have something painful to remember and happiness would be far from the mind of this poor youth. The dog jumped up and seated itself on the soldier's feet looking up with the look of ultimate disappointment. The dog always seemed to be waiting for someone the station manager had always thought. But now it looked as if it couldn't wait any longer. The soldier smiled at the dog and it appeared as if the soldier expected the dog to follow him. The dog did no such thing and after many times of calling it, the soldier gave up.
The station manager had heard the name of that soldier before, because he had heard the story of the little dog that lived at his station and in so hearing he learnt that the missing soldier had a brother named Walter. Walter Blythe. Therefore the station manager had concluded that this soldier could only be Walter Blythe, if it were Jem Blythe that dog would have followed. Walter had indeed returned home after an ordeal with a dreadful wound in his chest at the battle of Courcelette. He had spent months in recovery and was immediately sent home after such a near fatal wound. He hadn't sent word of his coming and he walked with such a spring in his step that the doctor at the hospital would have hardly recognised him had he seen him there, walking home with much happiness yet anticipation. Walter couldn't wait to get home, he nearly cried at the thought of not getting home sooner than he anticipated.
He saw it! There it was, Ingleside, home. He was walking up the lawn again, as he hadn't done for so long, he was at the door, he was knocking at it! He was looking at Rilla, there she was, a tear came to his eye.
"Walter," she cried "your home!" She said as she flung her arms around his neck. Oh it was indescribably good to be home!
" Oh, it is so wonderful to see you again Rilla-my-Rilla." He exclaimed, and he meant it with all his heart.
"Mother," he cried turning to Anne. " Oh, it feels so good to be home."
"My son, Walter, your home." Said Anne through her own tears. Her eyes looked as though she hadn't stopped crying since he left. All she wanted to do was keep this moment forever and never think of the war that was going on so far away.
That evening at dinner everyone simply stared at Walter, no body said much, just smiled.
When Walter went to bed that night he only thought of the call he must make tomorrow, he must go to the manse. His whole being was thinking of two eyes in that night, Una's. The eyes that Walter loved so much it hurt, how he longed to see her. He had carried the picture of those eyes and the laughter in Rilla in his heart to the front. How much those eyes had gotten him through. Oh, he loved her so much. He had indeed been a fool before the war, thinking he was in love with Faith at one point. He never realized how much he needed Una, until that last night before he went to the front. Rilla crept in to his room late that night.
"Walter," she said, " I just can't believe your home!"
"I know," was his reply "I can hardly believe it myself."
"Walter?" Rilla asked
" What Rilla-my-Rilla?" said Walter
"Do you love Una?"
" What makes you think that Rilla-my-Rilla?"
" I'm just wondering, you can tell me can't you?"
"Of course I can."
" Then why won't you tell me?"
"I will, just not now."
"Why not?"
" Because I'm afraid that you will think that I don't love you as much as I always have."
" I would never."
All this time Walter was afraid Rilla would despise him if he told her how much he loved Una. He didn't want to make her feel as though she wasn't an equal, on the contrary, it was just something were he had to tell Una herself first.
"Alright well, tell me when you can." Rilla changed the subject, we'll have to go to the manse tomorrow, that is unless you already went there tonight?"
" Don't worry I will, its just I have to tell someone else first. It has nothing to do with how I feel about you, it's the content of the secret itself." Walter just managed to say.
Rilla felt reassured that Walter treated her as an equal, but was still a little hurt that he wouldn't tell her.
"Well, goodnight." She said rather quietly and awkwardly.
"Goodnight, Rilla-my-Rilla" said Walter
"Do you love Una?"
" What makes you think that Rilla-my-Rilla?"
" I'm just wondering, you can tell me can't you?"
"Of course I can."
" Then why won't you tell me?"
"I will, just not now."
"Why not?"
" Because I'm afraid that you will think that I don't love you as much as I always have."
" I would never."
"Goodnight, Rilla-my-Rilla" said Walter
"Oh, and Walter" Rilla turned around just as she was leaving.
"What?"
"I love you and I hope she does too." Rilla smiled
So, she had guessed it had she. Well there was no point in keeping it from her, but what if Una didn't really love him back? How would he go on living if she didn't? Well all these maters would be solved tomorrow. He sighed, yes tomorrow, what would tomorrow bring?
The End
A/n well, what do ya think, is it melodramatic, under dramatic, just right? These would be very helpful to know what you guys think, so that is why there is the review box, please use it and use it well.
