A/N: Hello people! Many many apologies for the gap of about two months... I did say that school was getting difficult but clearly I did not anticipate the extent to which it would, as basically immediately after the last chapter I suddenly plunged off an A-level cliff edge. I'm really sorry, and I'll try to be a bit more regular in my posting. Hope you all understand :)

Early June, and Anne and Gil are on another swimming excursion at Barry's Pond. She's graduated from the log to the shallows, but an element of her ecstatic nature often comes back to bite her when she gets far too distracted by the shimmer of a little fish or the slow prowl of the lake trout come to bask in the sun. She dabbles her toes in the sand of the river bed and watches it drift upwards; sometimes Gil turns around to ask her how she's doing only to see a ripple where she once was. He'll dip below the surface to see her staring in rapturous joy at the wildlife on the lake floor.

'Gil, you don't understand - I've never been swimming before! This is a whole new world I haven't experienced before!'

Of course, he absolutely indulges her. 'Look, this here is a...' Sometimes Cordelia and Alexander come along and he teaches them too, particularly an inquistive Cordelia. Anne and Alexander sit on the banks and discuss nature and the way it makes them feel, but Gil and Cordelia discuss the way it works. And then, of course, at the end of the day there is an information exchange between the four, Pierre toddling down from the house to join them and kick his little six year old feet in the clear waters. It's not exactly the way Gilbert pictured spending time in the water with Anne, but this is infinitely better.

It doesn't sate his desire for time alone with her, however.

'Hey Carrots,' he says one day. 'How would you feel about taking another dory trip as the Lady of Shallott now you can swim?'

She glares in response to the nickname, but there's no malice in it. 'I'd like that very much, Gil, if you're offering.' The twins are off with Pierre, helping him paddle, but share a secret glance at Anne's response, very pleased with it. 'When would you like to go?'

'It's midsummer, Anne. How about this evening?'

She's taken aback, but very pleased and doesn't know why. 'Very well then, Oberon. See you at five o'clock.'

'Titania,' he bows, 'I shall be the very spirit of punctuality.' My queen, he thinks with several furtive looks at her as they all make their way back to the Shirley homestead.

When they reach the door, Walter opens it with a massive grin, holding a letter in his hand. 'Anne, Gil! Just the people I wanted to see. Guess who can enter you at Queens?'

Anne and Gil are immediately interested. 'That's fantastic, Dad! What will we have to do?'

'I'll ask the class to see how many want to do it and if we'll need to hold it at the school, but essentially there'll be an after-school class most nights to get you up to speed, before we send you off for the entrance exam in March time. The results should come through around this time next year for you to start. You can take your teaching license if you want or you can get a scholarship for Redmond!' Youthfully excited, Walter gives a little jump before running to embrace the two of them. 'Your lives start now, my friends!' he effuses, holding them tight, before leaping off to tell Bertha and the Cuthberts the great news at Green Gables, clutching Pierre in his arms as he runs across the field, trailing Cordelia and Alexander - who have strategically left Anne and Gilbert alone.

They exhale together, left hugging only each other from when Walter had drawn them into his embrace and then abruptly left. They have moved closer together, looking up at the hill the Shirleys are scaling to get to Green Gables. When they turn back to face each other, their faces are as close as they were on the day of the Idlewild fire - only this time, there is something there. Tension.

Gilbert unconsciously moves his face a little towards her own, and Anne responds in kind, their eyes boring into each other. Their foreheads meet. They stay like this for ten seconds, an eternity, before Anne gently extricates herself. She shivers; Gilbert misunderstands.

'Anne, I'm sorry. I...'

'No, Gil... I'm cold. My clothes are damp and it's getting a little cooler-' she lies, it's only 3pm on the 21st of June, but what are these feelings? 'I'm going to go and get into some dry clothes. Do-do you want a towel?' She touches the wet coils of his hair and his hand slides around her waist involuntarily. She shivers again. 'Uh - come on in! You might as well stay until we go out later...' Reluctantly, she moves towards the open door and away from him, the light hitting her hair in such a way that he sighs, chokes, coughs, before bounding in after her.

Their first stop, moving together, still connected at the hands, is the airing cupboard, filled with crisp, warm towels for him to use. Then he moves to the oven to boil some water for the tea and she unlinks their fingers one by one before scrambling upstairs to get changed. By the time she returns he's curled up on the sofa, hair in a towel turban and sipping his tea. But she's dressed for their later trip to the pond for the Lady of Shallott, yet her hair is down to dry faster. He sees an angel, lit by the summer sun, hair flowing down her shoulders in her longest, prettiest dress.

She moves shyly to the sofa and sits down next to him, their gaze never breaking. His hand reaches out to touch hers. This may be the longest they've ever spent without talking, yet it's not particularly awkward. His legs extend, and he moves to sit upright and twists to sit next to her. They sit there on the sofa, still looking at each other.

'Anne?'

She smiles and leans into him as she has done so many times before. Her head rests on his shoulder, nestled into him perfectly. Yet this feels liminal, the transition between normality to something new. He slowly turns his head, and kisses her hair, her forehead, her nose. Her face raises itself towards his.

The front door bangs open. 'Anne!' Her mother and grandmother's voices chorus excitedly through the house. 'You're going to Queens! And Redmond!'

They spring apart, but she's still looking at him as she is swept into the embrace of her family.

'Gilbert! You too! Both of you, I'm so proud of both of you,' declares Bertha, reaching out for him too.

And thus it is decided - Anne and Gil are headed to Queens.