Gilbert looked out over the valley and took a deep breath. "You know there's no where better I can think of to camp." He smiled taking off his camping backpack and dropping the tent beside him. Anne came and stood beside him looking out over the valley. "It is beautiful." She agreed. "You know Mrs Lynde asked why we would go camping not three miles from home, she practically accused us of being hippies." Anne laughed.
"How could we not?" he asked her. "Especially with your brand new double sleeping bag." He said putting his arm around her and winking.
She laughed "I thought sharing body heat would keep us warmer." She said practically.
"Now that's the spirit." He flirted which made Anne laugh again.
"We need a good shot of the view." She smiled as he stood behind her wrapping his arms around her stomach "But soft enough ground to put the pegs into."
"And not so close to the edge that we fall down the side of the hill in the morning." He chuckled.
"And close enough to the camp fire." She said. "Which should be there." She said point to the area they often made a fire in with a handy now fallen tree which had fallen in the last winter wind blow.
"Agreed." He concurred. "The tent there?" he asked her pointing just beside it but far enough away that the tent was in no danger, to which she nodded.
"Have you always had your tent?" she asked him.
Gilbert nodded "my pap bought me it when I was eleven, said every lad should have one." He smiled "I loved camping not that I got to use it much when he was sick but yeah, I always thought one day I'd like to take my son..." he came to a sudden stop at what he said "I mean, um..." he tried.
She smiled "I knew you wanted kids, remember?" Anne stated and shrugged, he looked to her wide eyed and worried for a moment before she said "Come on we told each other everything back in the day." She confirmed. "I told you I wanted kids too, remember?"
He broke into a smile "Really? I mean, you'd want them... with me?" he asked her.
"Yeah." She confirmed, "I mean not right now, but sometime in the near future, you know I don't think its impossible..." she smiled.
He grinned and confirmed "Good, I'm glad."
"So you always thought you'd bring our son camping?" Anne finished for him.
"Yeah." He said again getting the tent out the bag. "I mean, I suppose it was stupid really thinking it, I was quite young to be thinking about a family really."
"No," Anne thought outloud "It shows a seriousness in mind which a lot of boys lack."
He smiled "you mean the kind which calls girls names and pull at their hair?" he asked.
"I'll never understand why you did it, its so out of character for you." Anne remarked.
"I wanted your attention!" he said bemused. "Imagine how it might have been of you had swooned at my wink."
Anne gave a heavy sigh and said "then I would have proved I was just like any other girl in the school." She swallowed before she admitted "that wasn't the first time I saw you."
"In the corridor?" he asked her surprised to which she nodded.
"I was sitting on the bench with Diana just outside the door." She admitted "You looked so focused on getting to the door and you just stopped."
He grinned and remembered "I was composing myself." He smiled "making sure my jock front was on, that I was mentally prepared for what was on the other side of the door."
"You looked sad." Anne admitted.
"I was." He said then looked at her playfully "I hadn't met you yet."
Anne smiled reaching over and kissing him briefly "I couldn't take my eyes off you." She blushed.
"Well the moment I wasn't as self absorbed as I was in entering that corridor, I couldn't take my eyes off you either." He smiled.
"I'm glad..." she started before she thought for a moment "I'm glad you never gave up on me." She admitted.
He smiled widely at the compliment then said "come on, lets get this tent up."
"The big dipper." He said with a smile. The fire was cackling beside them as they lay on the ground, Gilbert on his back, Anne hugged into his side looking up in the night sky with him, enjoying the facts on the stars but enjoying the sound of his voice more. "The big Dipper has two parts – a bowl and a handle. Notice the two outer stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper. They are called Dubhe and Merak, and an imaginary line drawn between them goes to Polaris, the North Star. That's why Dubhe and Merak are known in skylore as The Pointers."
She smiled and asked "What are the other stars called?" she asked.
"Phad, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid." He said pointing them all out as he went. "In ancient times, the Little Dipper formed the wings of the constellation Draco the Dragon. But when the seafaring Phoenicians met with the Greek astronomer Thales around 600 B.C., they showed him how to use the Little Dipper stars to navigate. Thereby, Thales clipped Draco's wings, to create a new constellation that gave Greek sailors a new way to steer by the stars. In Thales's day, the stars Kochab and Pherkad (rather than Polaris) marked the approximate direction of the north celestial pole – the point in the sky that is directly above the Earth's North Pole. To this day, Kochab and Pherkad are still known as the Guardians of the Pole."
Anne smiled at what he was saying and said reverently "You know them as you do friends Gil."
He smiled and shrugged "When I was little I didn't quite get the idea that Star Trek was in the future..." he started.
"Or fictional..." Anne inserted.
"And I was determined to know the stars in the sky to help me get into the academy." He said with a chuckle which made Anne laugh.
"Oh my cutie little geeky." She said squeezing into his side more.
He blushed and said quietly "Don't make fun of me."
"No!" Anne objected, "No don't take it like that!" she told him sitting up slightly and looking down into his eyes "I happen to think geek is chic." She told him before he laughed "no, no seriously geek is chic, smart is sexy, really really..." she said taking her fingers, slipping under his t-shirt under his stomach and smoothing along the waistband of his jeans, which made him gasp in delight "really sexy." She said lying beside him looking up at him with big eyes.
"I believe you." He gasped out.
"And you are unbelievably attractive." She whispered in his ear. "I love you." She said softly "and you know I'm as big of a geek as you are." She said settling her hand on his stomach
He looked up at the sky again and said "they were my friends." He admitted. "The only ones I really had for a long time."
"But Charlie, Fred and the others?" Anne asked her fingers now playing around on his stomach.
"Don't get me wrong, they were all friendly and supportive when they could be." He trailed.
"When they could be." She repeated quietly, her hand now resting again on his stomach.
"You were technically the first person I told that my dad had cancer." He admitted quietly. "My mother let Ruby know who told everyone else." Gilbert confirmed "I'm glad it was Ruby." He told her "she's really the most gentle of everyone, well except maybe Diana but we weren't really close before you came along." He smiled and whispered to her "You changed everything." He smiled.
"Me?" she asked "really?"
"Yeah," he told her holding her in close "you came and made it all better." He whispered. "I never would have been as happy in high school without you."
Anne smiled and kissed him gently "You too." She replied. "You are my best friend you know."
"You're mine." He confirmed smiling as they cuddled down together under the stars.
Anne felt a movement beside her in the sleeping bag beside her and a warm arm wrap around her stomach and a cold nose snuggle into her sternum, followed by a relaxed 'hum' his legs wrapping around hers cuddling into her.
"Happy Anniversary." She heard him whisper.
"Happy Anniversary." She smiled turning to face him completely in the sleeping bag.
"I can't believe its been a year already." He smiled sleepily.
"It feels..." she thought for a moment and said slowly "Longer, and shorter at the same time..." she chuckled "does that make sense?" she asked.
"Yeah." He agreed. "Its because we're kindred." He smiled.
"My soulmate." She smiled. "Do you remember, years ago when I was reading your ancestors diary and we talked about what a soulmate was, you said they weren't born but chosen."
"I remember." He smiled sleepily.
"I choose you, I mean I think we were born to be with each other, but I pick you, regardless." She told him.
"I've had time to think through it." He admitted. "I'm starting to think that we could make it work with a kindred spirit, you know, but your soulmate is the one you'd pick beyond everyone else." He sighed and said quietly "it had to be you."
She smiled and said back "it had to be you."
"You want to know something strange?" he asked her.
"Sure."
My great great grandma, the one who wrote the diary, her first name was Anne." He smiled and looked down at her.
"Anne- with an 'e'?" she asked.
"She was insistent, apparently." He smiled.
"Good for her." She smiled and a look of recognition came across her face. "Your great great grandpa named Gilbert fell in love with a red haired girl called Anne?" she questioned.
"Talk about history repeating itself." He chuckled, which received a chuckle in response. "Bet they didn't do this before they were married." He flirted, which received a laugh.
"I can think of a few other things they wouldn't have done." She flirted back.
His eyebrows raised his eyes opened to find a very flirty Anne looking at him.
"Anne-" he started to exclaim but was cut off by her lips planting firmly on his.
"Anne what are we doing here?" Gilbert asked her as he was rowing the boat towards the ill fated bridge. "Everyone else has gone to the coast it so hot today being inland seems silly."
"We're here because no one else will be." Anne said with a smile. "And anyway you got to bring your picnic for later for the surprise location, I want to surprise you." She smiled. As they approached the bridge she instructed him "tie the boat to the bridge." She told him.
He held the bridge slowing the boat to a stop "To the bridge...?" he questioned.
"Yes, to the bridge."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because then it won't float away."
"Float away?" he questioned but still followed her instructions tying the boat to the bridge, "why would it float away?"
"because..." she said grabbing hold of the pillar making Gilbert yelp helplessly at her.
"What are you doing?!" he exclaimed at her action.
"You told me, you had a fantasy about me and you and what you wanted to do to me that day you rescued me." He swallowed watching her for a moment before she continued "so..." she flirted.
"You're insane, you can't even swim." He informed her as if she didn't know.
"Its okay, you'd never let me drown." She said as a matter of fact.
Gilbert felt as though he could melt right there. He looked wide eyed at her for a moment before he grabbed the pillar behind her lowering himself into the water with her. "Okay, what now?" he asked her.
"You tell me." She flirted "its your fantasy." She smiled.
Gilbert blushed "Anne..." he whispered.
"What was I like, seventeen year old Gilbert? What was I like for you?" she asked him pressing herself into him. "was I sweet?" she asked. "flirty?" she continued "assertive?" then she finished "submissive?"
There was a clearing by the lake of shining water, surrounded by trees, so the only chance you had of seeing it, was being directly in front of it on the lake.
Secluded, and quiet, the only sounds heard was of the birds in the trees and the far off sound off the flowing water, the scene interrupted by the two young lovers rowing to the shore, the man tied the boat to a tree stump which stood by the water the both of them soaking wet but neither one of them were cold, warm from the hot sun, they knew it would only be a matter of time before their clothes dried.
"Oh Gil!" she exclaimed. "However did you find this place?"
He smiled "When I was rowing the boat that day I rescued you, on my way I saw it from the lake." He said. "I knew I had to bring you here one day." He said with a smile to her putting down the picnic basket he carried and bringing out a picnic blanket for them. He put it on the ground squarely and then took Anne by the hand "Milady." He said with a grin.
She smiled and when seated on the ground said "Kind sir."
He smiled as he sat beside her on the picnic blanket. "I thought it would be nice and secluded." He said with a smile, "Just you and me." He said to her.
"Last time in a while." She said with a sigh looking around her.
He sighed and looked at her "We have tonight." He said with a smile.
"This time tomorrow you'll be half way to Kingsport." She said sadly. "I'll be at work."
He swallowed and put his arm around her "I can't bare the thought either." He said to her softly. "Being away from you, I won't have you, or us." She looked to him and saw the seriousness in his eyes
"I'll miss you too." She told him.
"So," he continued "lets not waste what time we have left together on missing each other before it happens." He said to her. "Lets bask in the glow of love."
Anne rolled her eyes and said to him "You're so cheesy!" she told him.
"I am, its true," he admitted "but you like it!" he teased her.
She laughed merrily and looked at him "I do, its true, I can't help it!" she laughed.
"When then the question is who is worse, me for being cheesy or you for liking cheesy?" he laughed.
"Oh definitely you." Anne accused him with a smile. "You took a girl and charmed her, and you were persistent."
"And Cheesy." He smiled.
"And cheesy." She laughed.
"Cheese is on pizza." He said to her.
"it is." She agreed.
"And pizza is goooood!" he continued.
"Yeah." Anne agreed.
"So cheesy is therefore good." Gilbert countered.
She shook her head, as he took out the items from the picnic basket.
Strawberries, cherries, chocolate, sandwiches and crisps all came out of the basket followed by plastic champagne flutes and champagne.
"Oh champagne!" Anne exclaimed looking at it then looked to Gilbert with a smile "are you going to get tipsy really really fast?" he chuckled as she continued "I mean we both know what happened the last time you mixed fizzy and alcohol."
"I didn't know about bubbles and alcohol before you said, how was I suppose to know!?" he asked as she laughed "Hey how did you know?" he asked her.
"Oh, um." She blushed slightly before she said "when I was six I was foster by a family whose father was an alcoholic, and he was very drunk coming home one night and the women said to him that he shouldn't mix his alcohol with fizzy drinks." She said. "I mean you were nothing compared to how drunk he was that... well any night, but I looked it up later, when I was old enough really and it was true." She said with a shrug.
He swallowed and asked "He didn't hurt you did he?"
"No." She confirmed, "no actually I mean he would wake with a banging headache, but he wasn't abusive not even when he was drunk, they were one of the nicer families." She admitted "He was an athlete," she remembered "and he got in an accident which meant he couldn't train anymore, he was depressed really, he turned to drink." She recalled. "But it was the reason they took me away from them." She remembered.
He looked to her wide eyed and a worried expression.
"Hey, don't do that." She said to him "come on, don't." She objected "It brought me here to Green Gables, to Marilla and Matthew, Di and you." She told him. "What could be more beautiful."
He took a deep breath and looked out over the lake "An alcoholic when you were six, a child slave when twelve, an abusive male at thirteen." He sighed. "Its not fair." He told her.
"Life isn't." She said. "come on Gil, think of the other foster families I had, no I didn't stay but they weren't all bad." She said hugging into him. "I'm here, with you right now, in the here and now, that makes me the luckiest girl in the world!" She sighed looking at him for a moment before said "Just like we're powerless to change the fact that tomorrow we'll be apart, we're even less so to change the past." She reminded him "and the future is unseen, its now we make the difference." She smiled.
He sighed and looked down at her softly "You know I won't let it happen again." He whispered.
"I know." She smiled and gave him a soft kiss on his jaw "now give me champagne!"
"Gilbert!" He heard his mother call from the other side of the door. "Are you two descent?" she called.
"Yeah mom." He replied sleepily.
She cracked the door open to see Anne was hugged into the side the covers were up to their chins as they hugged under the blankets. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you were wanting an early start to get back to school." She reminded him.
"What time is it?" he muttered.
"Five." His mother said as Anne snuggled back under the blankets.
"I should have known better then to tell a farmers wife that I wanted to get up early." He muttered to himself.
"What?" his mother asked innocently as if she hadn't heard.
"I said I'm up." He said groggily. "I'm up I'm up." He repeated as she closed the door. He sat up for a moment before he flopped back onto the bed. "And I'm down again." Gilbert turned and curled into Anne hugging into her for a minute.
"Its today." She whispered.
"It usually is." He joked to which he received a tap off her foot, to which he chuckled.
"I don't want to wake up." She whispered. "I want times to stand still, for us to stay like this a little longer."
"If its any consolation I was planning on getting up at six not five so we have another hour like this."
"That'll do nicely." She whispered. She wiggled a little to get closer to him to which she felt him react which made her chuckle so she did it again.
He turned her on the bed kissing her for a moment before he said "that's it, you asked for this Anne Shirley."