"Are you sure you'll be okay driving in this?" Mrs Blythe asked Anne. "You really don't need to go and get Gilbert."
Anne smiled "I'm in the four by four, he'll never make it back in the mini in this weather." Anne said to her. "The snow is too deep and set in for the mini to make it and I know Gilbert wants to be back for Christmas."
"What does Andrew say? Your employed by him." Mrs Blythe checked.
"I already had Monday and Tuesday off next week to spend time with Gilbert and Friday's are always quiet in the bookstore he often tells me not to come in and have the day "on him." Anne continued "He said tomorrow would be no different."
Mrs Blythe looked at Anne "Even if you leave now it'll be past ten by the time you get there."
"Which makes it even more important I go now." Anne said with a smile.
"Well, if you will be determined..." she said "here is some tea," she told Anne, "it should keep you warm if you get stuck anywhere."
Anne smiled fondly hugging Mrs Blythe "Once I'm on the highway it'll be easy." She assured her "the hard work will be getting out of Avonlea." she said before she whispered "I'll bring him safely home tomorrow."
"I was starting to worry." Gilbert said with a grin as she pulled up in the secure carpark under his building. "10:30" he said with a shake of the head.
Anne rolled her eyes landing in his arms. "It was a nightmare all the way to the highway." Anne said pulling him down for a kiss, he was surprised for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. They pulled back breathless and they smiled at each other.
"Hello." He said with pink cheeks.
"Hello." She replied kissing him quickly again. She reached into the four by four retrieving the overnight bag she had. He smiled as she tucked into his side as they walked quietly towards the elevator.
"Luckily no one else has came in or our since I came down here." He told her the doors to the elevator opening. They stepped inside and he put his key in for his floor. The doors closed behind them she pulled him to her, with no objections their lips met, Gilbert stepped closer and their arms found each other. "I've missed you." He whispered huskily to her.
"I've missed you too." She said with a smile before they kissed again. Before they knew it the elevator 'dinged' his floor he looked confused for a moment before he admitted "we were not kissing that long." He said with a grin to her, to which she simply smiled. "Hungry?" he asked her.
"Oh please yes!" she exclaimed.
"Good I'll order a pizza." He smiled "I thought we could junk food ourselves to sleep."
"Sounds perfect." Anne said with a smile as they flopped onto the sofa. She smiled her eyebrows quirking "can you hear that?" She asked him.
"What?" he asked her.
"Exactly." She said with a grin. "Its so quiet." She said her eyes momentarily closing "Don't you ever get lonely?" she asked him.
"Sometimes." He admitted "but then I just think of Charlie and I suddenly don't feel so alone." He said with a chuckle as she laughed with him.
"Oh Charlie!" she exclaimed.
"How is he?" Gilbert asked her.
"He's okay, I think." Anne admitted "I think he was just too out of his depth here." She told Gilbert. "He's become the accountant we'd all knew he would be." Anne smiled opening her eyes she looked at Gilbert "He came into the book store for a book he had ordered the other week." She admitted, "He and Josie are very on and off nowadays." She said sadly. "I don't think it was his choice."
Gilbert sighed his brows raised for a moment before he said "well that is too bad really." He said quietly.
"Its a shame, they were together for a long time." Anne said quietly.
"They could still work it out." Gilbert suggested.
"Maybe." She smiled, she looked over to the kitchen "where's your coffee and tea machine?" she asked.
Gilbert smiled "Still in the bedroom," he said to her "although once Charlie was gone it would make sense to put it in the kitchen." He said with a smile "but the temptation of having a tea waiting for me with a flick of a switch in a morning..." he said with a grin.
"Sounds blissful." She acknowledged.
"You'll know in the morning." He said with a grin, "Hey do you fancy a walk? We can go and pick up the pizza."
"Good plan." She said as he stood up she put her hand out and he helped her out of the sofa.
"Come on, I want to take you somewhere."
"Oh I love walking out with you." She said hugging into his side as they entered the park.
"Good." He said as they walked she tucked into his side.
"Where did you want to take me?" she asked him.
He looked up, smiled and said "Here actually." He admitted.
"Here?" she asked. "The park?"
He nodded taking them to a nearby spot holding her close to him she looked up into his eyes and wondered what he was thinking. "Do you know where we are?" he asked her.
"Kings Park?" she questioned him.
"Yes, Kings Park." He nodded before he took a deep breath "Think, three years ago," he said quietly "right here." He said his finger pointing towards the ground "There was snow like this and we decided to build a snowman..." he continued.
She gasped. "Oh my god Gil!" she exclaimed suddenly realising "Our first kiss!" she exclaimed. "I mean, our real first kiss! The one..."
"Yeah." He admitted. "I'd come back here, in those two years we were apart, I'd stand right here and just, remember." He said with a slight blush. "I've wanted to bring you back here, but it didn't seem right when you were here last, but now its snowing and its late, its just me and you and we're together now." He said drawing her ever closer. "I'm sorry." He whispered to her.
"Sorry?" she questioned.
He nodded "For kissing you that day." He told her.
"No!" She objected wrapping her arms around his neck now "Don't ever ever be sorry for that!" she told him "You can't imagine how it made me feel if you think it needs apologising for." She said shaking her head in the moment. She looked up to him, silent for a moment before she whispered "I tingled." She said a smile playing on her lips "I tingled everywhere and everything was tingly." She blushed "I had never felt love so intensely before." She remembered "and it's not like we butterfly kissed or kissed lightly to start with we just kissed and it was real kissing like mouths and tongues and it was so intense it scared me and when you told me you loved me, I couldn't handle it because of what I knew would come because of everything..." she said trailing.
"Then, I'm sorry it was so intense." He tried.
"But it was you and me." She replied with a laugh "it was always going to be intense." She told him.
"Then..." he trailed.
"Gil, you don't have a single thing to be sorry for." She whispered to him then we a smile and a flirty eyebrow added "except for maybe being so perfect I sometimes wonder what I've done to deserve you."
"Anne, I'm not..." he started.
"You are." She objected quickly. "Perfect for me." She smiled.
He grinned looking up for a moment shyly "well, I suppose that's what I always wanted to be perfect for so..." he said before he looked down into her eyes "Anne, are you sure it was about how intense it was? I never meant to push you."
"You didn't, I kissed you back remember?" she asked him. "The truth was I was enjoying it and I didn't care in those seconds, I was myself I was free when you were kissing me, it was when you said you loved me, that man, just all of it flooded back all at once and I was scared, of what 'love' was going to do to you, what it would allow me to allow you to do to me." She took a sigh before she pulled his face to hers and kissed him just as she had three years ago. "What's beautiful is, that even three years later, the feelings are more intense, they are stronger, our bond is stronger but I'm not scared anymore. I was terrified when I thought I'd lost you, that day you were in intensive care, I talked to you and I didn't know if you heard any of it subconsciously or not, but it hurt the most because I really thought I would never get to say it to you and see your eyes light up or kiss you and feel your lips on mine again, or that I would never have the chance to be intimate with you."
With this he dipped his head to hers again and kissed her heedlessly. "I love you." He managed to say, a part of him still afraid it would end the same way as it did three years ago.
"I love you too Gil." She told him which made him shiver in delight. She smiled at his reaction and told him "Come on love." She said to him taking his hand and leading him away. "Lets get us our pizza and go back to your place, we need food."
"I can't believe how late its getting." He said with a smile to her as they entered his apartment.
"Pizza!" Anne exclaimed putting it on the table.
"I'll get the chips out the cupboard." He said with a smile. He went over to the kitchen and pulled out two glasses popping ice in from the ice maker on the fridge then managed to carry over the two glasses a bottle of diet cola with the potato chips red vines and chocolate being carried. He settled next to Anne on the sofa and looked over at her, she who was now happily tucking into the pizza.
"God bless you." She said looking at his handfuls of food as he opened the chips he smiled more at her with a glint in his eyes. "What?" She asked him her mouth full of pizza her face confused.
"Did I ever really mention the reasons I could never love Christine?" he asked her. She shrugged he smiled and said "there were a number of times we were meant to be chilling out you know just relaxing and not worrying, well there was one time in particular we were watching or about to watch a football game on TV," he admitted. "I had came out with my tomato flavoured chips and she complained about gluten..."
"aren't these gluten free?" she asked looking at the packet for a moment.
"and fat..." he smiled and told her with a chuckle "...and look at you!" he said to her "It's refreshing, you're refreshing Anne." He continued "A women who doesn't always count every single carb or fat or gluten, a women who is just real and can chill with me, who can throw her hair up in a messy bun and drink diet coke and just be real." He said with a grin "I am the luckiest man in the world!" he said the grin still plastered on his face.
"You're lucky because I eat?" she questioned.
"Yes." He laughed. "yes I am."
She chuckled before she said "You know my diet will make be fat one day." She commented.
He shook his head "No never, not you." He disagreed. He then looked at her sweetly before he said "But I wouldn't mind sticking around to find out."
"Awww." She sounded. Before she gave him a kiss "That's so sweet!" she told him. "You too love." She told him.
"Sounds perfect." He said cuddling her into his side for a moment "diet cola?" he asked her.
"Sure." She said pulling his laptop close to her, "Do you fancy a mission impossible?" she asked him to which he smiled and nodded.
"Bag?" Anne asked him.
"check." He confirmed.
"tea?" she asked.
He held up a couple of travel mugs popping them in the front of the four by four in the cup holders.
"water?" she asked him as he held up a 1 litre bottle of water he slid it in the passage side door.
"Snacks for the journey?" she asked.
"chips, chocolate, peppermints." He said putting them in the glove compartment.
"Sounds like we're on our way to diabetes not Avonlea." She said with a smile. "I think we have everything." She confirmed.
"do you want me to drive part way?" he asked "we can swap part way there if you like?" he asked.
"Sure." she said throwing him the keys. "we do need to get moving," she admitted, "its already one and I promised your mother you would be home today." She admitted.
"If we stop half way just for a bathroom break we should make it back by a descent hour." He admitted "even with snow on Avonlea end."
"Sound fine." She said as she climbed in the passenger seat and Gilbert in the driving seat. "Roadtrip!" she exclaimed as he started the engine they both fastening their seatbelts. "Oh we need some tunes!" Anne exclaimed, pulling out her phone she opened the music player. As they left the parking garage a wide grin came across Anne's face as she started the music. A wicked grin came across her face as the music started and Gilbert's face fell.
"Oh God Anne!" he winced.
"When I need motivation My one solution is my queen." She sang along.
"No, No way!" he exclaimed. "Next tune next tune!" he tried.
"No Way!" she exclaimed before she started singing again "All these other girls are tempting
But I'm empty when you're gone..."
"Oh my God! You are such a teeny bopper sometimes!" he called over her singing. "I can't believe you can listen to this!"
"Oh I think that I found myself a cheerleader, She is always right there when I need her." She sang along.
"Who taught you these songs?!" he questioned.
"Diana!" she called with a grin.
"How could you?!" he exclaimed. "Stummer is spinning in his grave!"
"Okay okay..." she said getting her phone skipping the song ending it before another tune started. "I stay out too late, got nothing in my brain, That's what people say, that's what people say!"
"This is even worse!" He winced.
"Ummm Um." She sang along.
"Taylor Swift are you kidding?"
"Can't stop, won't stop moving" she sang along dancing in her seat.
"I'm trapped in the car with you for five hours you know that right?" he asked her.
"Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake I shake it off, I shake it off...Oh!"
He tried to reach over to her take the phone to which she popped it in her other hand and waved it out of his reach "Na ah ah!" she exclaimed.
He looked to her dancing in her seat and it made him grin, she was so care free, how could he stop her?
An hour later and Anne had stopped tormenting him with teen bopping music and had settled on some Queen playing in the background. Anne's hand was across the seat on Gilbert's knee, he returned the sentiment only moving if he needed to move in and out of gear and on the highway he didn't need to do it often. A smile played on his lips.
"Are you okay love?" she asked him.
"Me?" he asked. "I'm fine, more then fine, this is kind of nice." He admitted. She looked at him for a moment before he continued "A beautiful girl beside me, we're driving, just the two of us, it feels real, it feels nice." He said with a grin.
"It is real." Anne admitted before her hand moved up his leg to his upper thigh "and your mine."
Gilbert took a deep breath upon her hand moving up his thigh his heart rate had increased fast at the gesture. He was never sure just how much Anne knew on how something as small as that could effect him, but he knew one thing for sure, she couldn't be ready for that, not yet and he wouldn't push her.
The weather wasn't as bad going back to Avonlea so Gilbert and Anne pulled up to Blythe Farm at 7pm on the dot, Mrs Blythe's arms flinging around her son's neck as he entered the kitchen.
"How are you?!" she exclaimed looking at him "you look thinner..." she claimed "Anne doesn't he look thinner?" she tried.
"Its just puppy fat going ma," Gilbert tried "I'm eating all the food your sending, ask Anne, my cupboards were empty last night because I'd eaten everything. Look?" he tried again taking off his coat showing her his arms, "Muscles see? I couldn't maintain muscle if I wasn't eating right could I?" he asked her.
"Well..." she started.
"come on ma, your honest nurses training please?" he asked her.
"No, no you couldn't." She finally conceded. "I just worry." She said hugging him again.
"Its alright." He said quietly to her "I'm home for a couple of weeks now, you can keep an eye on me." He said with a smile to her.
"You two must be exhausted, you've been travelling all day." She said with a sigh. "Here have some shortbread." She said to them both handing them both the plate of shortbread she had just completed. Gilbert rolled his eyes and took one. "Are you staying the night Anne?" she asked her.
"I'll stay a little longer this evening Mrs Blythe, if that's okay, but I really must get back to Green Gables tonight." She said trying to sound as light as possible.
Anne took a deep breath her whole body was flushed as she pulled away from him.
"You have to leave?" he asked her reading her face.
"Yes." She agreed, "but I really don't want to." She said falling back into his arms, she quickly turned back into him and started to kiss him again, the now familiar feeling starting in her stomach, her leg raised coming up the inside of his as she pulled herself onto him she could feel her whole self tingling. He turned them both over laying parallel with each other they kissed more, each kiss, becoming less shy and more loving before he suddenly pulled back
"Anne love." He whispered. "You need to go, remember?"
"In a minute." She said pulling him back to her, he pulled back where she looked confused as he brought himself out of the hold. "Gil?" she asked him.
"I should get on with some studying tonight, since you aren't staying." He said to her.
She frowned for a second a little confused. She was sure not seconds ago she knew where 'it' was going, alright maybe they wouldn't have gone all the way but all the same, him pulling back so suddenly was so strange. "Well its never stopped us from staying over before." She tried.
"Yes, but you are going tonight you already said." He said practically. "I might as well get on with it." He commented.
Anne took a deep breath as he got off his bed straightening himself up before he moved across his bedroom to his bags and pulled out one of his medical books.
"Okay." She agreed getting up behind him "I might as well go then." She said quietly.
He turned around quickly and gathered her in his arms, kissed her lightly and said to her "I love you, you know that right?"
She looked up into his eyes and suddenly snapped out of the unsure feeling, maybe she had just been caught up in the moment. "Yes, I do know it." She replied. "I love you too." She told him.
"Come on, let me walk you down to your car."