I don't know if the notification for last weeks updates reached everyone FF was broken). Please have a quick look at the last chapter name sure you read it! love Carrots x

Three weeks later ,the winter setting in every road east of the school had been blocked to the school with snow but it still remained open.

Everyone had known about the telling off Mr Phillips had received at the end of the school day by Mr Sadler, the father of one of his tutor class, the girl had been failing in every subject and had blamed Mr Phillips (despite the whole of Avonlea knowing she was the dimmest star in the sky) humiliating him before the entire student body (who naturally had all sat and watched), leaving a very angry teacher and the class knew this would be the case as all pupils who lived east of the high school came in late that morning.

Anne happened to be the last of the students to enter, the majority of which were boys she was the one to feel the wrath of his revenge.

"Miss Shirley!" he called to her before she even sat down. Anne took a sigh and stood before the class. "Since you seem so fond of the boys company we shall indulge it. Sit there next to Gilbert."

Anne looked at the seat next to Gilbert then at her teacher again. Before she took the seat, there was a stunned silence between the two for a few moments. Anne had said nothing substantial to him since her last muttered words of 'I wish it was'.

She sat beside him her head went into her arms resting on the desk.

He swallowed and went pink in the cheek. "Anne." He whispered after a few seconds had passed and everyone else had started collecting the equipment for the experiment. "We're going to need the desk for the experiment." He looked to her as she came up "and if we don't hurry into the supplies cupboard we're going to end up with the defective bunsion burner." He took a sigh then said "I'll get them." He told her. As he was setting up the experiment and the class was naturally whispering along themselves Gilbert whispered to her "I can't believe his nerve." He whispered to her. "I'm sorry you had to work with me." He told her.

She sighed then said "don't worry about it." She said to him. "Though can you promise me something?"

"Anything of course." He whispered.

"Let's get an A+ on this assignment, show him what happens when he puts the two smartest people in this room together?" she asked him.

He looked at her amazed. She thought he was smart! Like she was smart kind of smart. She'd noticed him! It wasn't for his usual charm or good looks, which were just what everyone else wanted him for. She liked him, for his brains! "Sounds good." He said with a smile to her.

The project would take them right up to the winter break and they were partnered. Gilbert could tell Anne was only tolerating him for the sake of the project, but even still, there was something about the way she was valuing him, which made him feel needed, even wanted by her. They agreed to meet in Green Gables for a study session that night for the sake of the project, when Charlie cut between them.

"Say Anne, has anyone asked you to the Winter formal yet?" he asked her.

"Oh, um… no." Anne admitted blushing slightly.

"If you like…" Charlie said enthused by her answer "we could go together?" he questioned.

"Um…" Anne said confused, she didn't really think she was his type, "Sure." She agreed.

"Good call!" Charlie exclaimed. "You know it'll speak volumes for your social standing when you're seen with a Sloane." He said with his false sense of swagger coming back.

Gilbert rolled his eyes at Charlie, who had failed to notice Anne's annoyance. "Tell it to your blog Charlie." He said taking his friend by the arm and leading him away "See you in detention Anne." Gilbert said.

Gilbert had no way of knowing the way to Green Gables was blocked. The snow had continued into the afternoon Anne had barely got the Land Rover up to Green Gables driveway. Gilbert's Mini had no chance against the snow. He was only half way up the hill when he decided to pull into the side of the road, Just after the entrance to Orchards Slope, take his books and bag and head on foot up the hill.

He didn't have Anne's number and he knew she was expecting him, he didn't want to disappoint her, especially over this project. He walked up the hill.

'I really wore the wrong shoes for this' he thought to himself as he felt the snow slipping down the back of his sneakers. He made it to Green Gables porch 15 minutes later and knocked on the door.

The door was opened by Marilla her eyes wide in what Gilbert assumed was shock. "Good afternoon Miss Cuthbert, my name is Gilbert Blythe. I'm uh frie… well a class mate of Anne's at school. I don't know if you are expecting me I'm sorry but we are working on a science project together…"

"Yes." Marilla interrupted, "Anne told me, we assumed with the snow continuing you wouldn't come." She sighed "everyone knows not to try that hill once the snow sets in."

"Yes, I just learnt that the hard way, I had to abandon my car half way down." He admitted. "And I didn't have Anne's number…"

"Come in." She told him standing aside. He walked past her to see Anne walking through the corridor.

"Gilbert!" She said surprised. "You came?" she said as Marilla shut the door behind him.

"Yeah, I knew you were expecting me." He said.

"Oh." She sounded. "I thought everyone knew not to try this hill in the snow."

"Everyone but me apparently." He said with a smile to Marilla as she went into the kitchen.

"I suppose you would have no need to know it really." Anne admitted.

"Makes all the difference." He admitted. "I didn't have your number to check either."

"Oh." Anne said with a blush. "I don't have a cell."

"You…" Gilbert looked confused at her for a moment. "You don't?" he asked.

"Marilla doesn't see the use of them, she thinks my laptop is instant enough contact." Anne said carefully and well-rehearsed as Matthew appeared at the living room door watching them.

"Oh." He said nodding thoughtfully. "Well, they are overused and overhyped anyway."

"That's easy for you to say you have one." She counted.

He laughed at that. "You are refreshing Anne Shirley." He said outloud with a smile to her. "Yes, I suppose, it is very easy for me to say." He said pulling out his own phone and throwing it in the air slightly catching it with the same hand.

She looked at the phone. "Is that an myphone4?" she asked him.

"Um, yeah." He admitted sliding it back in his pocket. She looked at him confused for a moment. "You seem confused?" he asked her.

"Just I thought you'd have all the latest stuff." She admitted.

He nodded. "My parents didn't buy me my phone." He said. "not that they should have, with the last few years and everything. I have a part time job, pays for my phone and my car."

She looked at him rather seriously. "They made you get a job for it?" she asked him.

"No." he said his feet drawing circles on the floor in front of him. "They offered to get me one, I said no, I prefer to work for what I get." He continued. "So I got a part time job, one luckily which was on hold for me for when I got back from…" he trailed not wanting to talk about being away or his father being ill.

"I know your dad was ill." She admitted. "Diana gushed over it before you even came back." Anne continued. "It was a little annoying actually." She said and was surprised with the chuckle he gave. "What was your dad sick with, she never said?" Gilbert took a deep breath. He thought everyone knew so he didn't need to talk about it. "Sorry." She said upon seeing his face. "You don't have to say." She took a breath then said "You must be freezing Gil come into the living room." She told him. "You can sit by the fire and get warm. Do you want a coffee?" she asked him.

"Would it be too much trouble for some tea?" he asked her.

"Tea?" she asked. "You prefer tea?"

"I know an old man's beverage…" he trailed.

"No, Just, I prefer tea." She said in amazement. "Everyone else is hooked on coffee." She said with an incredulous look to him.

"There's too much bite to it." He said.

"Yeah and it leaves that taste in your mouth…" she started.

"Like it's the cocoa bean just left there." He smiled.

"Exactly." She agreed. The two of them smiled for a moment before it faded and Anne directed them towards the living room, where she took his coat "I'll put it in the tumble dryer, give me your sneakers and socks too, they won't dry if we won't." She admitted. He obediently took them off she went out the room. When she returned she didn't know whether or not she could smile at him, so she avoided eye contact and handed him a hot water bottle, " so your feet don't get cold." She paused a moment "now I know you asked for regular tea, but see what you make of this." She said as she put it in front of him. He looked inside the cup first then with a smile said "Green Tea!"

"Not just any green tea." She said looking him in the eye. "try it."

He took the sugar and put two in. Smiled then looked at Anne as he took a sip. "That's good." He admitted. "What is it?" he asked her.

"Jasmine Green Tea." She said with a half satisfied grin.

"Jasmine, yes!" he exclaimed. "I should have known that." He said. "That's good." He said biting his bottom lip looking at Anne as she sipped hers. "Is this what you're having?" he asked her.

She nodded. "When I was about twelve I was in this foster home for a short time only a month I think, but while I was there, there was this Chinese man, very quiet very alone but he saw me running back and forth one day and he offered me some Jasmine Green Tea." She sighed and looked at the tea cup "it tastes of freedom." She said.

Gilbert looked at her and studied her face, "freedom from what?" he asked.

She blushed a little. "The family, I suppose didn't have much, they were only wanting what was best for their family." She whispered. "Its not that they didn't take care of me exactly just, I suppose eventually not even the foster care money was enough to help." She whispered.

"They didn't want to foster for the love but for the money?" he asked. "They didn't hurt you did they Anne?" he asked her seriously seeing the look on her face.

"No not them." she said, Gilbert not missing the beat of 'not them', so that had meant someone else had. "I just did a lot you know, back and forth to the store, cooked cleaned ironed that sort of thing, I don't mind doing my share…" she trailed again.

He couldn't help but read her, she was so very open like this. "They had children of their own?" he asked her to which she nodded, "and they never contributed?" he continued.

She looked to him and shrugged. "You're good at this game." She told him wiping the tear away. "It doesn't matter." She said putting down her tea and pulling out her books putting them in front of her.

He sensed she was backing away emotionally when all he wanted to do was pull her tight to him and tell her he would protect her. "Its not fair." He said to her.

"Life's not fair." She replied her nose upturning "The sooner we realise it the better." She stated. He studied her a little before she said "its not our circumstances which defines who we are Gil, its how we act which will." She said in a very final way. He looked to her and nodded before she said.

Gilbert took a breath and said "it was cancer, my Dad he had, has cancer. I never know the right tense for it." He said quietly.

Anne looked at him with wide eyes. "Oh Gil!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know." She said quietly.

"We were out in Alberta; the hospital out there has a specialised unit for really bad cases." He continued. "we only came back when he got the all clear. But he was told to take it easy, which is hard to do when running a farm, he works the fields himself, but, while everyone else were worrying about football games and cheerleading torments, grades and social spats…." He paused for a second before he continued "You know it does something to you as well, that you don't see in the others, not that its wrong exactly because they are living out a normal and wonderful teenage existence."

"But it doesn't give them your perspective on things, it's lonely isn't it?" she asked him.

"Yeah it is. I would suppose being fostered in and out of families would do a similar thing?" he posed the question though didn't really expect an answer. "It makes you grow and fast, you see the most important things in life aren't pep rallies or whose dating who or even if you have a girlfriend or not, my dad mattered, my ma mattered and I really want to make a difference because of it. You know?" he asked her.

"I know." She smiled. There was a comfortable silence between the two for a minute before she said "You remember how I said I thought I remembered my ma telling me she loved me?"

"How you remembered it," he said with a smiled. "yes."

She took a sigh and a chuckle before she continued "You know why I think…"

"you know." He corrected again.
"fine, you know why I know its real?" she asked him.

He shrugged and shook his head.

"She used to sing to me too." Anne said quietly. "She sang a song called 'I knew I loved you' to me. And when I was first in the foster home I'd sing myself to sleep with it." She sighed. "she'd hold me close and tell me how much she loved me." A tear escaped Anne eye and she quickly brushed it away " and she told me I was worth the world." She took a deep breath "it wasn't until I learned how to use the internet and was told by the teacher 'to look up something from your past' he didn't say how recent. I typed the words of the song into the search engine, and it came up top spot, the song and I could hear her sing to me again."

They were quiet for a moment before Gilbert spoke "Queen!" he exclaimed before Anne looked at him confused "Bohemian Rhapsody" he continued "My dad used to sing it to me, it was the only thing which would settle me." He said with a blush.

"Really?" Anne asked her eyes still wet from crying as she giggled.

He chuckled "right until I was about five." He admitted. "Or 'Too Many Tears'" he chuckled.

"Whitesnake?" Anne asked.

To which he nodded. "Not the typical nursery rhymes."

"No that's cool." She said with the broadest smile on her he had ever seen.

"Yeah it is." He agreed.

They were silent again before she spoke "So was it bad? Your dads cancer?" she asked him.

"Yeah." He admitted, he looked up at her into her eyes for a moment. He couldn't quite believe just how easily they were talking, just how much he wanted to open up to her! He'd never been like this before, he held his cards close to his chest since the whole thing started. "I was thirteen when he was first diagnosed." He said quietly.

"Four years?" She asked her eyes going wide.

"They'd get to the point of almost calling clear and they'd find it again." Gilbert swallowed. It wasn't until last year it got really bad. They said if it didn't clear this time it wouldn't." he sighed. "I finished my end of term exams and Miss Stacy let me finish early I left mid May."
"Six months?" Anne looked at him wide eyed. "You were away six months."

"I hated home-schooling." He said with a smile. "Since I was the teacher and student combined. Miss Stacy really was very good about it all sending up the work for me."

She looked at him and swallowed. "That's not fair." She whispered.

"No its not." He admitted. "But in some ways ,the last four years made me grow up faster, in other ways I've been left socially behind." He said with a shrug. "But as you said life isn't fair. I guess, I've learnt it too, just in a different way."

She inhaled her tea for a moment before she took another sip "its my favourite." She said referring to the tea. They went quiet for a moment before Anne dared speak again. "On to Chem." She said to him.

By the time they were finished they both knew Gilbert couldn't leave. The snow was deep and wild coming down very fast.

"You need to call your father and mother, let them know you will sleep in our spare room, you can't go all the way back to Blythe Farm in this, Its too far to walk in it especially in those sneakers you wore." Marilla said with an eye roll.

"If you're sure Miss Cuthbert, thank you." He said politely.

"You can use the phone if you like?" she told him.

"No, that's okay, thank you Miss Cuthbert, that's why I have my cell phone." He admitted. To which Marilla simply rolled her eyes and walked out the room.

It was then Diana came bursting into Green Gables.

"Diana?!" Anne asked shocked.

"Mini May is sick I don't know what to do, mama and papa has gone out and have left me in charge, I tried to call the doctor but the lines are dead and my cell phone isn't working I don't know what else to do!" she said panicked. She then looked to Gilbert in shock said "What are you doing here?!" she asked him.

"We were doing our chemistry homework Diana, you know we're partners in there now." Anne defended, rather too fiery for Gilbert's liking. "What's wrong with her?" Anne asked.

"She has this barking cough but when she breathes in it sounds awful, and her little voice sounds like sandpaper and she says its hard to breath. I left Angela with her because I didn't know what to do and all the road are blocked so I can't get her to an ER. This was the nearest place, until you get to Blythe farm, was that your car I passed Gilbert?" she asked him, still very confused with everything.

"It could be croup," Gilbert suggested from behind them, Anne looked to him and nodded. "if it is she'll need help as soon as you can give her it, it can be dangerous if left." He said logically.

"I agree with Gilbert." Anne admitted. "But we should go to her, and see how bad it is. Once the roads are clear we can get her to hospital. I'll come with you." She said to Diana, we'll see how bad it is." She said getting her own boots ready.

It was the early hours of the morning when Gilbert heard the door at Green Gables shut. It seemed no one else was awake. Without thinking he jumped out of bed as he heard the footsteps up the stairs and opened his door.

"Gil." Anne said her eyes wide at him, it was a moment before Gilbert realised he was standing in nothing but his boxer shorts which were snug against him.

"Sorry." He blushed realising himself his hand subconsciously covering his crotch although it was already covered by his shorts he did not want Anne to see his reaction to her. He jumped behind the door his head poked round. "I was just wondering if everything went okay with mini May?" he asked her.

Anne couldn't help but grin at him her eyebrows were playing flirt with him, despite her best efforts not to. "In hospital, you were right Gil it was croup I knew the moment I got there, I did what I could, sat her up, kept her warm, I even had my inhaler for my asthma which I gave her, it seemed to help a little."

He nodded. "Good I'm glad."

"They only just got the ambulance to Orchard Slope." She whispered. "Then Diana's mother turned up, she was too relieved Mini May was going to be okay she didn't even notice I was there until the medic said it could have been too late by the time they got there if I didn't… she could have got pneumonia."

"Well thank God you were there then Anne." He acknowledged. "You really seem to have cool head in a crisis." He said with a smile to her.

"Thanks." She said realising it was Gilbert she was talking to her face falling back to cool with him. "The roads should be clear by morning." She admitted. "You could probably go home before school if you wanted to."

"I could give you a ride to school if you like?" he offered.

"No thank you Gilbert, I don't think that would be appropriate." She replied.

"Anne…." He started.

"Good night Gilbert." She said suddenly and she entered her bedroom.

Gilbert shut the door and silently cursed himself. He lay on the bed and covered himself in the covers. He was sure they were close to being friends. He sighed and wondered if she'd ever forgive him.

"Oh come on!" Gilbert exclaimed the next day in debate the two hadn't spoken to each other since the encounter in the hallway of green gables, so Gilbert just kept things as normal. The debate team meeting was that night and the subject had been 'are all books politically motivated?' Anne was on the 'no' and Gilbert was on the 'yes'. "You cannot use Animal farm as an example of a non-political book!"

"I think I just did." Anne argued.

" It's a fact that Orwell had written it as the lead up to the revolution in Russia in 1917!"

"I'm not saying it isn't political I'm saying without the context it's just a story about a farm." Anne defended.

"'Animal farm?'" Ruby asked. "Is that the one with the pigs?" she asked.

"'I'm lost'." Josie exclaimed "what does the movie 'babe' have to do with revolutionary Russia?"

"…just for a minute think as a child, you've never heard about Russia or the politics, what is that story about? Its about pigs taking over a farm. Nothing more." Anne defended.

"Wait? Babe was a communist?" Josie asked surprised.

"I don't think it's the same pig Josie." Ruby said.

"But it isn't us putting a political opinion on the book, the political views are there." Gilbert exclaimed. "They wouldn't publish it at first, it was so obvious that it was a censored book!"

"Charlie?!" Josie whispered to him.

"Yeah." Charlie asked.

"What are they going on about?" she asked him.

"No Idea, they lost me at Orwell." Charlie sighed.

"A one which adults put on there. Read it to Mini May she will tell you it's about a farm. And isn't at least some of interpretation is in the readers perspective!" Anne exclaimed.

"Hey, wanna go for milkshakes?" Charlie asked the others.

"Oh lets get out of here they're in one of their debate modes who knows when they'll come out of it today." Josie sighed,

"Won't they want to come?" Ruby asked.

"I'll whatsapp Gil." Charlie whispered. "Come on."

Indeed it was a healthy five minutes later the pair had debated through books of both Shakespeare and Dr Seuss where Gilbert finally came up saying "Back me up Charlie…" he started before he looked up from Anne and around him, he said again as he turned to check the whole debate club were not there "Charlie?" he questioned.

"I think they all gave up the fight." Anne said finally coming down from the high of the debate.

"You mean the debate?" he asked her. She sighed and took her jacket from the back of the chair before he stood in front of her and took her hand, something which made Anne's heart skip in her chest. "I wish they could be two different things." He told her quietly.

"I don't think they can be Gil." She said taking her hand back and leaving him standing in the classroom by himself.