Greetings all!
So, this will probably be my last update until into the new year now.
So you know I am continuing the story only there will be some very obvious difference from here on. But also some similarities, its just modern day so some differences HAD to be made.
I want to thank you all for following and all the advice and PM's I've had through this. CatieGirl as always and Kim Blythe as always. Rebeccathehistorian I we've talked a little about his medical school set up, I have taken it all on board and we're at that point. It is a major part of the story even if it is running in the background so thank you so much for our talks, it IS being written in.
love
Carrots x
"I was wondering if you fancied a hike?" Gilbert asked her, he already kitted out in hiking boots and backpack, no doubt filled with items needed to walk. "I need a walking partner, especially with this…" he continued half waving his arm as much as he could "and since its hiking sometimes requires two hands I'll need a partner." He said with a smile.
"Yes, I'll come." Anne said with a smile, "give me five minutes to get everything together."
Gilbert had been friendly, far too friendly since he woke. He had come to Green Gables often, but still with little of the summer remaining now until he went to medical school, Anne suspected her time, her chances with Gilbert, of being with Gilbert had ran out. It wasn't anything she didn't deserve and it wasn't as though she resented his friendship being back in her life, she appreciated it, she had missed him far too much! But still the blossoms of friendship seemed pale and scentless compared to the rose of love. She packed her backpack and grabbed her fleece and walking shoes. She ran down the stairs and came back into the living room with a smile. "So where were you thinking?" she asked him.
"Hester's Hill." He said. "Just into the dip of the garden." He said as she tied her shoelaces. He was half expecting the lecture from Anne which his mother had given him that morning.
'Gilbert Blythe, you can not be serious!' she had exclaimed. 'you can't go hiking in your state, and up Hester's hill? Are you trying to kill yourself again?!'
"Okay fine with me." Anne said grabbing a hair bobble and sweeping it all up. "Let's go."
Gilbert had loved this past summer, with the exception of the downer of the first week or so, he had spent a lot of time with Anne. He hadn't spent this long with Anne for over two years, since the disaster of their make out session. It had ruined everything, he had let it ruin everything, he never should have done what he did and then not contact her, its no wonder their relationship had been on hold for the past two years.
But since the beginning of the summer, since he had woken something had, something had changed. He had caught her a couple of times watching him blushing away when she was caught. She held his gazes longer, she found more reasons to touch his arm, his hand and when she did it lingered there a little longer then natural. These alone, would never have been enough to convince him of her feelings for him. No, he had been fooled by his own imaginations before. The clinch was the conversation he had on whatsapp with Phil a few days after he was discharged from the hospital.
Phil: Try again
Gil: I'd love to know what you're going on about?
Phil: With Anne.
Gil: Phil, she has a boyfriend…. Excuse me a fiancé
Phil: No, Sweetie, those boys knew Roy was going to ask Anne to marry him, what they didn't count on was her reply. Anne broke it off.
There it had been. Anne broke it off. He was willing to take it slowly this time, take time to get to know each other again and slowly he felt the bond they once shared returning. She was as lively and her debating skills were far more practised then his, making their discussions more fiery and passionate than ever.
And it made him feel alive again. The colours which had faded were returning the little fantasies he once had of what his future could look like started to haunt his dreams again, only this time it didn't taunt him, it was so warm and inviting there were those moments where he was waking he wished he could sleep again to be in her embrace.
But maybe, the blushes, the gazes the fire was there, maybe for a reason.
The girl who had her hand outstretched for him to grab hold of as she had tackled a particularly difficult terrain which needed both hands to climb up the jiggered earth, the girl who reached back for him and pulled him up onto the earth beside her. Her hand lingered in his for a moment as they stood close together. Their hands were down beside them and while holding her hand the back of his hand brushed against her exposed thigh (as she was wearing those beautiful short shorts again) before she blushed slightly and continued walking.
"Thank you by the way, for coming hiking with me." He said to her as she walked away.
"Oh, that's okay, you know I love to hike." She said.
"I know, its why I came to you but…" he trailed and shook his head. "everyone keeps on acting as though I'm an invalid." He sighed.
"But its your arm broken not your leg."
Gilbert smiled "Something only you seem to understand, my mother would dispute my ability to hike full stop." He took a breath and looked out over the valley. "All downhill from here." He said pointing down the path. "All the way to the garden?" he asked her.
"Absolutely." She agreed.
It didn't take long to get there. The dip in the hill was beautiful tucked away, hiding the garden from passing view resulting in a never changing garden. The picnic blanket spread on the ground they sat together sitting back looking at the view.
"You know I've seen some views, but this one, this is the one which always sticks in my mind." Gilbert said.
"It's beautiful." Anne agreed. "It's like a dream." She almost breathed.
"Did you ever bring Roy up here?" he asked her.
"No." she said her head shaking. "No, he…" she laughed bringing her legs up he head digging at her knees as she laughed "he was not a good hiker."
"Oh?" he asked. "I can't imagine you being with someone like that." Shaking his head.
Anne looked at him "No one said?" she asked him. "I thought you knew, we broke up."
"Oh?" he said acting surprised but thrilling to hear the revelation from the source.
"He…" she started one hand going down in the grass and picking it and playing with it for a moment before she said "…he proposed you know." She admitted. "At graduation." She chuckled. "Right after he came back from his little hissy fit about my dress."
Gilbert looked at her "You mean the dress you looked really really hot in."
Anne chuckled and looked at him to find a pair of very intense very deep hazel eyes staring back at her. "I didn't…" she started.
"You did." He whispered. "You can't argue with me, hotness is a case of perspective and from my perspective…" he said with a grin and a twinkle in his eyes "you were smoking!"
She laughed then smiled before she looked back and said "I said no and ended it, I couldn't stay in a relationship where I couldn't tell him… everything…" she said looking to him meaningfully to which his lips upturned "…and anything. I had to constantly filter everything to be beautiful and meaningful and it was exhausting when I just wanted to be me and order in a pizza and just chill…" she laughed before she sat quietly and looked out over the view. "It's strange, isn't it? That I want, what we had, in our friendship came so naturally. It was almost like a relationship."
Gilbert looked to her shocked. It was the first time she had ever admitted the word 'relationship' with regards to them, and something deeper struck him, she thought she couldn't have it again with him. "What's stopping you from reviving us?" he asked her.
"Gil." She said looking at his seriously. "Come on!" she exclaimed. "You can't be serious?" she asked him.
"I can be." He said completely perplexed. "Tell me."
"Um your girlfriend?" She poked at him.
He physically burst out laughing. "My what?" he asked her.
"Christine." She said looking at him like he was crazy.
He looked back at her with equal complexity. "Christine…" he trailed "Christine Stuart, Christine?" he asked her.
To which she nodded. "You were always doing these daredevil things and she was always with you, I thought she got you into it and then there was pictures which all had you and her in…" she trailed "and then you're Facebook updated one day to say 'in a relationship' I didn't need it to be tagged to know it was…."
"A joke one of my buddies played on me?" he asked her.
She looked wide eyed at him then suddenly tears running down her face "Really?!" she asked.
"One of the lads got hold of my phone which I had taken the lock off, stupid me, and updated it, they knew I didn't use Facebook all that often, they must have seen like 50 notifications on there… it wasn't until a few days later I saw the notification had gone up by a hundred and I checked." He laughed "and took it back down again. You saw me take it down right?" he asked her.
She shook her head in shock. "No, I… I stopped following you. I didn't see any other posts, except the one Phil saw from your dad." She shook her head trying to stop the tears "I didn't think it was like you to share your relationship status. I mean you didn't even have on there you were single." She blushed.
"Well I guess…" he said with a grin "I just wanted the right girl to be on the other side of my relationship updates." He took a breath "and what's this nonsense anyway?" he asked her "You were with Royal Gardner, the rich the man who could give you everything your imagination desired."
She sighed heavily and looked away "He couldn't." she admitted. "All the physical stuff, the fancy places and the gift and the flowers and the wine and chocolate." She looked sadly "but there was no emotional support, no psychological support, no one to talk me down." She said "That's why I couldn't tell him… well you know." She said quietly. There was a silence for a moment before she continued. "Maybe I just couldn't tell him because we didn't get to know the deepest parts of each other, and maybe I was partly to blame for that too."
"I'm sorry Anne but why were you with him?" he asked her. "You were too good for him." She sighed and looked at his eager face .
"how long have you been holding that one in?" she said with a smile.
He laughed. "I don't know." He said to her. "I think when I came back from New York I didn't like the guy, my dislike for him only increased when you said about him sleeping around."
She nodded her head then looked out again at the view "Roy wasn't all bad you know, he did have a sensitive side to him, he did eventually do the right thing, and I did like him, its just I was good friends with him and the relationship just sort of happened, and I didn't want to loose him like I lost you, so I stayed, I kept going back just so I could prove I could make it work, so I could show myself..." she shook her head. "Stupid." She said.
"don't call yourself that, please don't." He said to her putting his hand over hers.
She took a breath, "You know Roy really did have it rough in one respect?" Anne added.
"Oh?" He said with a grin "do tell."
Anne took a deep breath "His father passed away a year before we met, left him a trust fund which would leave him in charge of the 'Gardner' enterprise once he turned 25, thus giving him plenty of time to get a degree, the only bit of money he saw was the money for his university degree, well a bit more too, which he had access to once he started attending university. If upon his father's death Roy wasn't 25, his mother would have control over the funds." Anne paused for a moment and said "Well, you see his mother wasn't fond of the way Roy was spending the inheritance he did have so she made a slight amendment to him actually getting the trust fund."
Gilbert looked at her intrigued but said nothing.
"Upon his 25th birthday, if Roy is not married he will inherit nothing and the money and estates of his father would remain in his mother's hands, upon her death would be equalised among the shareholders of the company, Roy would never get anything."
"What?!" Gilbert exclaimed "Are you serious?"
Anne nodded, "he told me when I rejected his marriage proposal." She admitted. "His mother made a stop at Patty's place one day, warning me off her son, telling me not to sleep with him. I can only imagine she was afraid that Roy would marry me and she would loose all control over his assets." Anne said logically. "She wants Roy to marry someone within his own social circle, I think hoping she might persuade his future wife to her cause." Anne sighed. "I might not agree with how he was spending his money, but he told me straight he would divide whatever is in his trust fund equally with his sisters."
Gilbert looked at her gobsmacked "Do you think he would?"
Anne nodded "He loves his sisters dearly and doesn't believe they should be left with nothing because they aren't sons. It might make Doll a little uncomfortable, she's only eighteen but he has a whole vision of what Gardner Enterprises would look like, I think it would work well." She said with a nod.
Gilbert looked out over the valley and his jaw set strong "well it does make his situation more pitiable..." he said resentfully.
Anne grinned as he smirked "sooo" she started "If you were never with Christine, has there ever been anyone?" she asked him.
"Only you." He whispered. He looked to her and grinned "I tried Tinder." He said with a laugh to her.
"No!?" Anne exclaimed. "You didn't?!"
"I did." He said between his laugh. "About a month into being in New York, I decided to get over you."
Anne shook her head. "And?" she asked him.
"I was useless with it." He laughed. "I kept on swiping 'no, no no…" he told her.
"Why?" she asked.
"They weren't my type." He said with a shrug.
"Your type being?" she asked.
He laughed pressed his lips together and nodded. "Look in the mirror." He said lightly then added "and definitely not on Tinder. I deleted my account in seven days."
She laughed "Now why would you do that?"
"Because there were no Anne Shirley's on Tinder." He said before they looked to each other and blushed.
"Thank heavens for that!" Anne added after the silence.
"Yeah." He agreed. "I don't suppose this soon after breaking it off with Roy you're dating again?"
"No. I'm not." She said quietly. "I guess we're both just dreaming of the perfect relationship then."
"Yeah." He agreed as they went silent. "Though my dream has stayed the same throughout." He admitted. "I seem not to be able to let it go, despite all the facts pointing towards it never coming true." His fingers slid between hers and stroked the back of it gently. He lay back on the ground as Anne relaxed back with him her eyes closing to see his dream "I dream of a home, with one of those proper fireplaces in it..." he started.
"Wood burning?" she asked him.
"Of course." He agreed. "My home, where I come home from working at the hospital with cats and dogs, a stone floor with old fashioned rugs on it. The floor echoing with memories of the footsteps of friends, of family- "he paused for a moment and slid his fingers into her while saying "-and you."
Anne gasped at the revelation her eyes flying open. His eyes opened dreamily and looked at her softly. "I told you something two years ago Anne, if I say it again…" he said picking her hand up and kissing the back of the palm "…will you react differently?"
She looked towards him her eyes wide and clear, letting go of her hand he rolled onto his side the side of his broken arm, it laying across him. His fingers played gently with her cheek for a moment before he rested his palm there, not breaking his eye contact with her. He could see the happiness spreading across her face in a confused bliss.
"How?!" she whispered to him.
"How?" he questioned her. "What do you mean how?!"
"After everything…" she said the tears gathering in her eyes. "Everything I put you through." She gasped. "The mud, and the hell I…"
"Now stop that." He whispered. "Don't you dare." He told her. "Don't put all that on yourself." He whispered. "I'll have you know I'm every bit to blame for the hell I put myself through."
"Gil…" she started.
"No think about it Anne. Everything was perfect between us, we were the best of friends, we were close, really really close. Intimate in a lot of ways in fact."
"I…"
"I pushed you. I pushed you to push me away, I gave you an unfair ultimatum, I never, should have put you in that position Anne."
She looked into his eyes. "I have missed you so much!"
He sighed and stroked her face again. "I've missed you too Anne."
His heart thumped in his chest as she turned towards him then he sounded out the words again "I love you Anne."
She smiled widely, in a happiness Gilbert had only ever imagined. Her body sprang from its position into his good arm burying herself there. "I thought you loved Christine!" she exclaimed. "she made it clear on several occasions she hated me."
"What?!" Gilbert asked.
Anne nodded. "It was like 'you rejected my boyfriend' like she was mad at me for it, ask Phil she was really quite mean when your back was turned, she might not have been your girlfriend Gil but she fancied you rotten and she warned me off."
"She what?!" Gilbert exclaimed.
"Yes, she did!" Anne told him. "Do you remember that dance right after the Christmas you sent me my necklace? You saw us talking, she was warning me off." Gilbert looked at Anne in shock "You don't believe me?" Anne asked.
"No, of course I believe you, its just unbelievable behaviour on her part., especially considering she has a fiancé!" He told her she looked up at him surprised "not me I hasten to add." He looked at her shocked face" if you saw the pictures then did you see any with a bloke with really blond hair side parting floppy kind of style? That's him, Andrew, I told him I would take care of her while she came on the exchange, that's all I was doing." Gilbert assured her. "She was nice in her own self but she was dull as a doornail." Gilbert admitted. "she's not even my type, how could you think it?!" Gilbert asked confused.
"She's got nut brown hair and starry eyes, she might as well have been called Cordelia to throw in the bargain." Anne said.
"Anne!" Gilbert said his mouth wide in surprise. "I can't believe you!" he told her "How could you think I would move on so fast?"
"I thought at the time that you never really loved me and so you just moved on to the next girl and she was more accommodating." Anne admitted. "I was sooo jealous." Anne laughed in her tears, "not that I knew it at the time or admit it even if I did know, whenever I saw the picture on Facebook or saw you together here, that's when I would get more serious with Roy. Such a stupid little thing I am."
He reached to her and kissed her squarely on the lips. "No you aren't, I'll have no more of that miss." He said to her with a cheeky grin. Her mouth a jar her eyes still closed her body swaying and her hands were frozen where his face had been. "What?" he asked her.
"Do that again." She told him.
He smiled widely then did as she commanded and kissed her more, this time in a long steady kiss. She felt her control slipping and she giggled into it. "What?" he asked her.
"Just, with him, with Roy, one of the reasons I wanted to stay with him was I was always in control of my feelings for him." She said. "I was never angry or passionate, he couldn't evoke enough of me to get a reaction." She admitted. "It took me a while to realise it, to really understand, you invoke the strongest emotions because of how deeply I feel for you." She said softly. He smiled and nodded before she kissed him again then added "I love you so much." She whispered. His lips came back to hers she giggled in delight before their kiss deepened.
Happiness grasped at him when she brought one hand round his back holding him to her and the other played with the curls of his hair. She pulled back and looked at him with wide eyes.
"Gil," She whispered between kisses, "the only reason I walked away that day…"
"You thought you'd turn me into a monster that I'd change." He said.
"You know!" she exclaimed before she realised "of course you do, because you know me, you understand it all, without words…" she said pulling him in for another kiss. "My true kindred." She whispered. "My soulmate." She said capturing his lips again. He pulled back for a moment blushed slightly
"Aren't you happy Gilbert?" she asked him.
He took a deep breath "Of course I am." He whispered. "I'm just…" he trailed. "I'm trying my best to control my reactions." He told her. "I just… I don't want to scare you again." He told her honestly he grinned at her and said "First loves are intense you know."
"I know." She said to him gently. "What do you think scared me so much the last time." She whispered. Gilbert looked to her shocked and she looked wide eyed to him "You didn't know," She whispered. "You really don't know do you?" She said kissing him lips quickly then kissing him on his nose. "You were, or rather you are because you never stopped being…" he kissed her fast holding her to him before she pulled back her lips "my first and my only, true love." Anne smiled and playfully pinned him to the picnic blanket lying on top of him. "How about, I tell you, just how much, I'm not scared this time." She whispered before she returned his kiss, just as firm, with just as much certainty and there she stayed until he couldn't help the gasp which sounded from his chest. He tried to move away gently but that was when she kissed gently into his neck whispering to him "Do that again Gil." Before she kissing up his neck to his cheek before he captured her lips again. To which he was caught completely off guard he did it again before she moved away with a giggle lay beside him, snuggling into his side. "That's better." She whispered she put her ear to his heart where she heard it pounding fast. "Gilbert Blythe, I've never heard a heartbeat as fast!" she teased him.
"You've never heard what my heart does whenever I'm around you." He told her enjoyed the closeness, before a ringtone went off in Gilbert's pocket. Anne smiled as she recognised the tune. "Sorry my mother." He told her taking the phone out his pocket.
"I hope so with that ringtone, Mr T. your role model on how to treat your mother?" she asked him.
"Hey, ain't no greater respect. I pity the fool who dishonours his mother!" Gilbert exclaimed. "Mother there is no other like mother, so treat her right." He went along with the lyrics which made Anne laugh before he answered it "Hey Ma." He paused a minute. "Yeah, we got here about half an hour ago." He said.
"we?" Anne heard his mother ask.
"You don't hike alone ma, you know that." He said with a grin.
"Who?" she asked.
"Anne." He told her honestly. "Yes Anne Shirley, how many other Anne's do I know…" he sighed "because she's the only one who doesn't treat me like an invalid ma." He bit his bottom lip sitting up listening to his mother. "That's not going to happen ma." Anne sat up likewise worried by the half conversation she could hear. She could only imagine the reservations his mother had about her now. She used to be close to his mother, she loved his mother, she knew when she rejected Gilbert that relationship was in ruins too. "We'll come home soon Ma." He said gently he grinned at Anne, she gently moved so she could kiss him on his jawline. "yes, we…" he confirmed. Her kisses started to distract him from the phone call, he enjoying the kisses she was bestowing, "because we're hanging out and we're enjoying ourselves." He said, Anne almost giggling as his cheeks started to deepen pink his voice reflected his distraction. "Hour and a half…" he said, Anne pulled back with wide green eyes her bottom lip pouting "maybe two or a little longer." He said then her lips turned to a smile. "Love you too ma." His knees up in front of him, his head tapped his phone as it went down into his knees. "sorry about that." He said to him.
"That's alright, its sweet she still cares to check on you." Anne whispered looking at the phone.
"She loves you really you know." He whispered, reading her mind.
"She hates me and I can't blame her." She sighed.
"She loves you and was disappointed that's all." Gilbert told her. "Wait till we get home and tell her about this…" Gilbert trailed. "You do…" he started "You do want to carry on this don't you?" he asked her. "whatever this is?"
Anne grinned leaned over and kissed him again. "I was rather hoping, that this meant I was your girlfriend and that we'd tell the whole world about this." She whispered.
His grin turned to a beaming smile "Really?" he asked her.
"Ask me out..." she whispered in his ear. "Roy didn't really he assumed, I want to be wooed." She said with a grin.
He smiled and brought her lips to his "Irresistible." He said with a grin. "Anne?" he whispered.
"Yeah." She whispered back.
"Do you want to make us official?" he asked her. "Will you court me?" he asked.
"ohhh," she said with a wide smile shifting on his legs to make herself more comfortable "Courting, I like that!" she flirted.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"so much better then 'going out' or 'girlfriend', I like it." She whispered.
"For gods sake Anne will you answer the question?!" he said with a laugh with her.
She pulled out her phone and turned the camera on, her arm went on front of them and she took a picture of them smiling together he couldn't help but get a little excited when she kissed him and took a picture another taken when they were looking at each other and another when he kissed her forehead.
"Is this a yes?" he asked.
"Shhh." She teased.
She went to Instagram putting the four pictures together to one and then shared it on both Instagram and Facebook, then went to Facebook and went to her info. He looked over her shoulder watching what she was doing. "You are literally telling the world!" he exclaimed.
"Yep." She said as she clicked on "In a relationship" then tagged Gilbert in the field. "I want to court you Gilbert." She whispered before his kissed him deeply again and pressed 'save changes' then she updated her profile picture to the pictures she had just taken of them, while she was there she reclicked on the follow button on Gilbert's profile and 'see first' . He took his phone and did the same thing using the same picture he borrowed from her profile and then changed his relationship field in a likewise manner.
"Well…" he sighed. "Its out there." He told her.
"Yep." She agreed.
"regretting it yet?" he asked her.
"not even a little." She confirmed putting her phone away then jumping into his good arm again. "Now you've given us less than an hour to make out alone up here." She flirted with him.
"terrible start to our relationship." He smiled.
She looked at him softly and whispered "Oh my love."
He grinned whispering back "I think I like the sound of that sweetheart." He admitted.
"Sweetheart." She grinned before their lips flirted, sweeping across each other, their lips barely grazing flirting with each other. "Can you feel that?" she whispered.
"Yeah." He agreed. "Our charge." He whispered.
"That pull." She whispered.
"I've felt it since day one." He said with a smile.
"Lets not fight it…" she said to him "Anymore."
And they didn't.