Hi Everyone!
Thank you all for your lovely reviews over the past couple of weeks!
I'm sorry I am super busy at the moment, my older child has broken up from school just on Friday and the school was very busy the last couple of weeks, then I've been physicking myself up for the six weeks, getting stuff organised and my mother in law hasn't been too well, Oh and I'm doing a sponsored walk which is taking up time everyday and I'm potty training and bed training my two year old, so its been one thing and another and another...
But so you all know, I'm not giving up, its just that I may need more time between chapters, so I'm sorry for the delay but they are coming!
love Carrots x
Anne looked confused as a women opened the door who wasn't Cornelia for a moment before she heard Cornelia shout "who is it?"
"Its just me Cornelia." Anne shouted back.
"Ah Anne!" she heard "come in, come in! That's Abby!" Cornelia asked.
"Hello." Anne smiled to the women.
"Hello." She smiled "don't mind me I'm just on my way out." She said.
"Oh you don't have to." Cornelia said coming out the bedroom. "Anne won't judge." She said with a smile to Anne and a kiss to Abby.
"Oh!" Anne exclaimed happily "A girlfriend!" Anne said.
"No, no,not as far as that!" Cornelia said as Abbie likewise shook her head.
"No?" Anne questioned.
"Well, yes, you know!" Cornelia said, "but we're not serious, A series of hook ups, at the moment."
Anne smiled "I'm glad she went out and got herself out there." Anne told Abby "The whole time I've known her, no boyfriends, no girlfriends, no hook ups even and Leslie tells me it goes further back then meeting me."
"I'm fussy what can I say!" Cornelia said with a smile. "what can I help you with Anne?" she asked.
"Our spare key," Anne said holding it up.
Cornelia nodded and took it "Yes,I almost forgot." Cornelia acknowledged, "Anne and the Doctor is going back home for a couple of weeks, they've asked me to check all is well with the apartment while they're gone." She told Abby.
"And if its needed..." Anne trailed looking at Cornelia with meaning.
"I doubt she'd take it." Cornelia said.
"I know, but just in case." Anne said quietly.
"Where is home?" Abby asked Anne.
"Prince Edward Island." Anne said with a smile.
"Oh!" Abby exclaimed. "Oh I used to spend my summers there as a child, in Charlottetown, my Aunty lives on the island." She smiled "its so beautiful there, I love the red roads!"
Anne smiled "then I like you already Abby." She said with a smile to Cornelia, "anyway, must be off, Gilbert is loading the car as we speak." Anne smiled "I don't want to get to the car to find Gilbert has started studying already!" Anne joked.
"Oh tell the Doctor to relax a little, it'll be his last chance for a while yet." Cornelia said.
Anne smiled wickedly "Well Cornelia, that almost sounded as though you like my Gilbert!"
"As close as I get to liking a man!" she quipped with a smile. "Have a nice holiday!"
"Gilbert!" He heard from Blythe farm veranda, there with his father and finally the owner of the voice, his mother.
"Mom!" he exclaimed smiling running up wrapping his arms around his mother. "I've missed you." He whispered.
"I missed you too son." She whispered to him, then when she saw Anne come up the veranda steps her other arm came out to draw her in too. Anne smiled and tucked into Mrs Blythe too.
"Now tell me son, will a nice hot drink help or hinder your girlfriend's condition?" Mrs Blythe asked him.
"Condition?" Anne asked "its a bacterial infection! I have antibiotics!"
"Help, if not by actuality, its helping by lifts the spirits." Gilbert acknowledged.
"Honey and lemon tea?" Mrs Blythe offered.
As they went inside Gilbert said "Actually both Honey and Lemon's have natural antibacterial properties." He said with a grin as they went into the kitchen.
"So much has happened Diana," Anne said softly her eyes reflecting her voice the next day as they sat and talked at Green Gables "and I'm not just talking about my master's programme." She iterated.
"I don't think those women really hate you." Diana tried to reassure her, "they both sound jealous to me." She said her arms crossing in front of her. "I don't mean that meanly, but it sounds like Leslie is jealous because you are in a happy relationship and hers is on the road to doom..."
"But Diana..." Anne started to reprimand.
"Did I say it was her fault?" Diana corrected her friend reading her mind. "No, I said her relationship is unhappy Anne, its a fact not an opinion." She continued "No, as for Katherine it sounds as though she is jealous because you've been published, as young as you are, you have the disposition to make friends easily and you have a dishy boyfriend." Diana said with a co-conspirators smile said "although anyone would be mad not to be jealous of that!"
"Diana!" Anne exclaimed her cheeks blushing, she then giggled, then added "but yeah." She admitted.
Diana sighed at her friend then said "You've been working really hard, haven't you?" she asked her.
"Well, hard." Anne said with a shrug. "It's all releven..." she started before Diana interrupted.
"Gilbert said he was worried just how hard you've been working." Diana admitted. "You need to take better care of yourself." She said as only a mother could.
"Yes mom." Anne said with a chuckle. "I'm only on these antibiotics another three days you know?" Anne tried to reassure her. "I'm not even sick anymore." She said stubbornly.
Diana smiled and asked "Christmas is in three days, what are you and Gilbert doing for it and New Year?"
"Charlie and Josie are hosting a new years party on their garden rooftop and it is beautiful up there, no doubt it'll be good music..." Anne said with a smile.
"And even better booze!" Diana laughed which made Anne laugh.
"Yes, probably!" Anne agreed. "Although luckily we are within walking distance home." Anne added. "And we're having Christmas dinner at Green Gables then having Christmas dinner at 6pm at Blythe farm, as per tradition."
"That's right, you've told me that before, the Blythe's have dinner on the evening." Diana said with a sigh "so no time for your old kindred spirit?" Diana asked her.
Anne looked at her shocked and said "Diana, I always have time for you!" she exclaimed.
"How about New Years day?" Diana asked her, "the boys can go out on the lake for some ice fishing its been frozen over a week already?"
Anne smiled and nodded "Its a date."
Anne threw her arms out beside her looking up at the night sky "Have you seen the sky tonight?!" She exclaimed the winter breeze blowing on her loose red hair. "The stars are so clear Gil!" she exclaimed. "How lovely its how we remember our new year" she exclaimed looking back to him with a smile "Have you ever seen anything so glorious!?"
He came in behind her holding her round the waist and kissed her neck "I can think of a thing or two." He whispered lowly, almost in a growl.
"Ummm." She sounded leaning back into him feeling his torso against her back. "You unbuttoned your coat." She whispered.
"I need to be close to you." He whispered.
"You'll catch cold." She said practically feeling his hand slip below her waist to which she gasped in delight. "Gil." She whispered her head leaning back exposing her neck to him he took the invitation.
One hand came up cupping her breast under her t-shirt she giggled for a moment before she whispered "Here Gilbert?" she questioned.
He shrugged looking out on Barry's Pond for a moment he whispered to her "Let's make it a little more private." He said leading her up to Miller's Bench. "I've been thinking about this since last year." He whispered as they sat down, him first on the bench she faced away from him sitting on his knee she soon slid down his thighs grinding her derrière there making his breath shudder and his desire rise. "Anne!" he breathed out his chest rising and lowering in quick succession. She turned her legs going either side of him playfully.
"Right here?" she asked unbuttoning his jeans "Right now?" she flirted.
"Oh Please! Yes!" He whispered back his hands slipping up her thighs bringing her skirt up her legs.
Anne giggled "We're soooo tipsy!" she giggled as their noses rubbed in the cold.
"I think its keeping us warm." He laughed bringing her closer to his now exposed frontal area.
"So you won't regret it?" she teased him.
He looked into her eyes and whispered "I couldn't let your first time being a drunk time." He told her straight. "Do you have any idea, any idea how much I controlled myself that first year?" he asked her, she didn't answer but looked into his eyes. "I would never regret making love with you." He smiled as they looked each other in the eyes they're bodies uniting, their bodies shuddering at the act she leaned in again "Especially not here." He said with a grin his hand returning under her clothes to cup her again.
"A-after, l-la...ahh" she said her body building in a frenzy.
He chuckled barely being audible he finished "year?" he asked, to which she only nodded. He felt her move closer, his legs felt of cold and jelly but his whole body was on fire as she leaned further into him closer and faster until she stopped in a shudder. He chuckled knowing she was satisfied he safely felt his own satisfaction, she leaned back watching his finish, his eyes opened and they smiled satisfied for a moment before they kissed each other lightly.
She smiled as they pulled back slightly and whispered "Does that fulfil the fantasy?" she asked which a chuckle which made him laugh.
"Utterly." He agreed with a nod, leaving them both giggling like children in a conspiracy. He looked up at her the same glint in their eyes he whispered "Share a shower when we get home?" he asked her, to which she smiled and nodded, with it said it took them another fifteen minutes to leave the bench and start walking towards Blythe Farm.
"Happy New Year!" Anne and Gilbert exclaimed together as Diana opened the door at almost 1pm on New Years day.
"Happy New Year!" Diana exclaimed back with a smile. When Gilbert let Anne over the threshold of the door she said "Oh, first foot!" she said to Anne.
"I thought that was the first man across the threshold?" Fred asked from behind them.
"Oh Bish!" Diana exclaimed "Its called equality." She said with a smile. Handing Anne a small package of homemade biscuits, jam cheese and cake. "Plus I have one for Gilbert too!" she said bringing another from the side.
"First foot?" Gilbert asked with a thank you. "Are you telling me no one came knocking on the door at midnight for first footing?" he asked.
"Well they might have but we wouldn't know we were fast asleep upstairs." She said which made Anne and Gilbert chuckle.
"Knocking at midnight?" Anne asked him.
"When I was younger I'd wait until midnight then go over my parents door threshold get the goods off them..." he said then stopped for a moment as Anne and Diana looked at him "then teamed up with the local lads to see how many homes we could first foot and have all their goods." Gilbert said with a chuckle.
"Oh Gilbert you didn't!" Anne exclaimed shocked he would do such a thing.
"It was only a couple of years for me, before dad got sick, then I stopped but I believe some of the other lads carried on the tradition for a good few years after that." He said with a look to Fred that neither Diana nor Anne missed.
"Fred Wright!" Diana exclaimed.
"Hey now come now we stopped by the time we were sixteen." He said with a grin "by then we were down in the woods drinking too much beer for our own good for new years." He said with a grin "so many hangovers the next day." He said with a grin.
"Well I'm glad Diana made an honest man out of you then." Anne rebuked him "at least for the health benefits." Diana happily scoffed and Fred chuckled before she asked "Do you need help getting the children ready? Its rather cold out there today."
"I hope so, otherwise ice fishing would be wasted." Fred said "Speaking of which is Barry's Pond...?" Fred trailed asking Gilbert.
"Still safety iced over we'll be fine for a few days yet." Gilbert said with a smile.
"Good," Fred said with a grin "Its Freddie first time you know, I don't want him seeing his old man sinking."
"Freddie is only a few months old." Diana said with a roll in her eyes.
"I hope you're looking forward to taking Anne-Cordy out?" Anne asked him.
"Well, yes, she's old enough to hold a rod now and smart enough not to go near the holes!" Fred said with a grin.
"And we the ladies will be happy to walk around the pond, come home early and pea soup ready for you boys coming home."
"And the fish, don't forget the fish!" Gilbert said with a grin. "I always loved new years!" he said with a twinkle in his eye to Anne.
"Auntie Anne!" Little Anne Cordy exclaimed jumping into her arms.
"Anne Cordy!" she exclaimed picking the child up in her arms.
"'appy now year!" she hugged Anne.
"Happy new year!" She said with a giggle as the little girl pulled back.
"I already know how to write our name Aunty Anne, mamma showed me how, she said I should know before I got to school to impress the teacher!" she said to Anne.
"I'm sure it would." Anne agreed putting the child on the floor and crouching down to her level "can you show me?" she asked the child, who nodded leading Anne into the living room with her.
Gilbert felt his lips upturn in to a smile.
She really would be a good mother one day.
A few days later John Blythe sat back on Green Gables veranda with his wife and Marilla watching Gilbert, Anne, Davy, Dora Millie and little Anne C in a snowball fight across the front of Green Gables yard.
It was of course a military based game of snowball not some unorganised unsocial game, no, it was two forts built each one with a load of snow balls stacked beside the bases. Gilbert ever the valiant had the fort to protect himself, but gallantly used himself as a human shield over Anne C and Anne protecting them from 'unfriendly fire'. Dora who normally didn't like snowball fights (because usually it consisted of her brother aiming endlessly at her then stuffing one of the balls down the back of her jumper making her scream at the freezing water as it melted down her formally warm back) was enjoying being on Davy's side for one, when he saw Gilbert protecting his girls, well he sure did the same.
John looked back at Marilla who was sitting across from him. He couldn't help but think of the time they were about Davy's age, maybe a little younger.
"Hey!" John had objected to the lads who were surrounding Marilla as she tried to walk home from school in the snow. The boys had surrounded her threatenely, John knew the current trend was to hide stones in the snowballs and Marilla, (to her credit) was one of the smartest girls in school, which often ticked off the other boys, especially the bullies, the low life's, the ones who would never make anything of themselves, the ones currently surrounding Marilla. "Leave her alone!" he told them catching up to them looking them square in the eye, He was six foot, Marilla only five-five, the boys around her were round about his height, she would stand no chance against them "Go pick on someone your own size."
"Should have known you would come to her rescue!" One had taunted him.
"Oh sure you did, is that why you picked on her? So I could beat you up?" John asked them, the boys all looked worriedly at each other before John swung his arm around Marilla's back. "How about you boys remember this." He told them all making sure he got eye contact with every single one of them "Marilla Cuthbert, is under my care, and any of you who think on picking on her, will have me to answer to." He told them all "Got it?" he asked before the boys all disperse around them only grouping again when John and Marilla had passed them, John's arm still around her back, came up to her shoulder as he pulled her in and whispered. "We need to stay like this until we're out of eyeshot." He told her "Make it look like we're together."
They rounded a corner where his arm was shrugged off as he let go she looked at him with daggers in her eyes "why did you do that?" she demanded.
John looked somewhere between shocked, terrified and intrigued. "Do what?" he asked her as they continued to walk, (she told him later much to her horror, but it was much to his delight).
"Now they are going to think we're a couple!" she told him.
"Well it wouldn't be so bad would it?" he asked her, knowing he was at least the best looking boy in school.
"I could have handled it myself! She told him.
"Really?" he questioned and with a glaring look from Marilla he asked with a upturned grin "how?"
Marilla looked at him icily and frustrated before she turned away and muttered "I would have thought of something."
"Well it meant you didn't have to think of anything." John justified.
"You think yourself smarter then me?" She asked him.
John shook his head without hesitation "No, no way, you're way smarter then me..." he admitted then after a small pause where she thought she had won the argument "but..."
"But?" she said shooting a look to him surprised.
"Well there's different kinds of smarts." He pointed out "school smart, street smart..." he trailed. "and those boys, well they aren't any sort of smart." He said with a grin which made Marilla's lips upturn for a moment "but what they do, so that they pick on the weak and less abled." He said.
"And you think me weak and less able?" she questioned, to which he opened his mouth to say something but clearly thought better of it before he shook his head. "because I'm a women?" she asked him.
"I did not say that!" he said to her straight.
"You thought it, that's why you rescued me, my knight in shining armour." She told him.
" Always for you Rilla," he said to her sentimentally, with a look from Marilla he objected to the implied sexism "Hey there is nothing wrong with being a gentlemen!" he told her getting a little worked up himself now.
"See there you have it," Marilla objected "if you want to be a gentlemen you think I'm a girl that I need your protection."
"I would do the same for another man if he was being bullied." John returned.
"Really?" she asked him her eyebrows quirking.
"Yes, really." He said with a nod of his own head to reaffirm it to himself. "Just its also nice to just protect the nice things in this world." He told her.
She looked to him and asked "You think I'm nice?" she asked him.
He shrugged and looked down to his feet. "You are my equal," He said quietly. "I just saw a situation and I thought I could help."
She blushed away and said quietly "I don't know what to say."
"Not that I expected it or anything, but you could try a thank you."
"You want me in debt to you?" She said defiantly but when John looked to her he could see the wry grin on her face.
"How about," John said stopping as they got to the fence at Green Gables separating the Blythe property to theirs "you pay me back." He said with a smile as she turned to object but he put his hand over her mouth "by letting me walk you back here, every day until the snow goes, at very least it'll spare you icy water down your back or worse stones." He said his hand uncovering her mouth.
"Stones?" she questioned. "Oh," she realised, "In the snowballs." She said.
"Its a cruel trick but I see them do it, I'd hate for you to get hurt, because I like you." He told her with a wink.
Her lips upturned for a moment before she said "Awfully sure of yourself Mr Blythe."
"I need to be, no one is going to be sure of myself but me." He said.
"Humble too."
"If I said I was that wouldn't be too humble now would it." He grinned.
"and astute." She laughed.
"Well that one depends." He said to her.
"On?" she questioned.
"You." He said looking into her blue eyes with his brown ones.
"Oh?" she managed to sound.
"If you let me walk you home from now on?" he asked her.
Marilla blushed slightly with a little grin on her face "I suppose if it puts your mind at ease." She said to him.
He grinned back and added "it would, thank you." He said then he turned and started to walk away. "See not to hard to say is it?" he asked her.
"What?" she asked him.
"Thank you." He smiled "never mind, it gives me plenty of time to get it." He said, unseen to Marilla, Matthew had appeared at the fence "Good afternoon Matthew." John said with a smile to him which made her spin on her foot and look at her brother.
"John." Matthew said with a shy smile, before he disappeared into Blythe territory.
"Tea?" Marilla asked him in the present snapping him back into reality.
John looked at her for a moment his mind catching up to the present. "Oh, um, yes please." He told her. She looked at him, noticing the unwavering look in her eyes, he knew she remembered it, he knew she was thinking of that day. Marilla's smile was a kind one but not longing, not that it could or should be, just more of a memory.
Marilla went inside to the kitchen with a smile, of all the things ever to happen between them the one thing she was always scared of was loosing John's friendship.
"John we can't!" she had exclaimed.
It was the winter after the above memory she and John had made it back to the same fence separating their properties.
The past year, she had grown to appreciate John, no he wasn't academically gifted as she was, however he was making average grades and from what Marilla understood his father had shared the farm with him, now 50/50 in work and responsibility, John didn't mind, he loved the farm work and had said on several occasions that he intended on taking over the farm when he was old enough, this had created a type of intelligence, which she liked, she appreciated. He was very practical, very steady in his approach to things and when he wanted to he caught onto things fast enough.
Slowly as winter had turned to spring, the snow had disappeared to the point where it had been several weeks since even a thin layer of white decorated Avonlea, yet he still walked her home, chatting animatedly, then slowly week by week, the course of their discussion had changed, they became more personal, they knew practically everything about each other, but this was something, Marilla in particular, with her romantic heart was most afraid of.
"Why not?" he asked her his cheeks still pink not from the snow but the small brush of a kiss they had just shared.
"You're my friend!" she exclaimed confused. "Friends don't kiss each other."
"How do you think girlfriends and boyfriends become girlfriends and boyfriends?" he questioned her. "A gallant knight in shining armour?" he questioned "a tall dark handsome stranger whisking you off your feet?" he asked her.
"No." She said confused still "Just we're friends!" she exclaimed.
"be my girlfriend then?" he asked her.
"No, no, I'm,I'm just a girl!" she said shaking her head.
"Yes, girl-friend." He said with a grin "you."
"A-and you're a boy- boy- boyfriend?" she reasoned.
"Me." He agreed. "Boyfriend." She looked up into his eyes before he shrugged and said "if you like?"
"But, I-I, I don't want to loose you." She told him. "I don't want us to change, what if we break up and never speak again?" she asked him.
"Marilla Cuthbert," he said to her taking her by the hand then whispered to her "no matter what, I guarantee you one thing." He told her. "no matter what we will always be friends." He told her, "just this is just seeing where we could go, what we could be..." he said quietly then added "together." With no reply he added "plus you can't tell me you didn't enjoy that kiss." He said to her with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Shut up!" she told him with a shove. "I can and I will." She said her arms crossing in front of her.
His bottom lip protruded in such a way which was very enticing (though Marilla never found out if this was deliberate or not) "fine then." He said with a shrug "see you tomorrow." He said starting to walk past her but he never made it on this attempt, she pulled him to her full body against him in seconds accompanied by her lips on his, his feet almost loosing their grounding but saved himself by wrapping his arms around her leaning into her allowing himself to relax. As they pulled back Marilla thought he looked adorable as his cheeks reddened his hand was immediately touching his lips which bore a smile before his hand swept back into his pompadour hairstyle. "Wow!" he managed.
"S-Sorry." She said quietly.
"Don't be." John said his smile widening. He cleared his throat and said "see you tomorrow." He said then added happily "girlfriend." The ground beneath them was icy, so as Marilla turned to leave she slipped there where John caught her.
She blushed slightly before she whispered "My knight in shining armour."
His grin now full a smile came to his eyes "Always for you Rilla."
"Do you need help in here?" John asked her snapping her out of the memory this time.
She looked around the kitchen a slight blush came to her cheeks, "I um, well..." she started.
He chuckled at her response though was unsure as to why she was so tongue tied. "Sugar." He said looking at the tray which was void of said substance. He took off to the cupboard where it was kept.
"My knight in shining armour." She said with a wry smile.
John smiled and with a nod replied "Always for you Rilla."
She chuckled gently before she said "You remembered where the sugar is kept."
He shrugged "People don't tend to change around where things are from their childhood." He observed. He smiled again and recalled "do you remember that day, it was Matthew's birthday and so we had made his favourite..."
Marilla chuckled "...and you reached up..."
"I told you I could reach!" he exclaimed.
"I told you to get the stool." She said shaking her head still chuckling.
"If that sugar bag had been unopen it would have been fine!" he exclaimed.
"Whoosh!" Marilla laughed "Sugar all over the kitchen floor."
"We got it all up." With a warning look from Marilla "well most of it."
"Ants!" she laughed.
"Well you don't keep the sugar on the top shelf..." he said with a grin.
She immediately sensed up her smile turning serious "well it would be impractical for me to keep it up there."
"And in case some unwitting idiot came back and spilled sugar all over the place." He said to her handing her the sugar.
She took a sigh and said quietly "I knew you weren't coming back." She said she looked down at her feet "it was a bad argument..." she trailed.
There was a silence for a moment before they both muttered quietly "Sorry." They admitted together, Marilla looked to him wide eyed while he chuckled and brought her in for a side hug a swift kiss to the hair he then said "all is well."
John turned at a scream coming from Anne behind Gilbert out in the snow, and a bold shout of arms from Gilbert himself. John chuckled "it hardly feels five minutes ago we were that young." He said to her.
Marilla smiled looking out at them "We were younger then that John." She told him.
"You've done a fine job you know." He told her straight, "three children, not yours but they are." He said admirably. "You always wanted kids." He said to her softly. "and don't let Rachel take all the credit." He told her sternly as she stood beside him in the doorway looking out to them "She may have six children all of her own but you don't see this kind of bond in them do you?" he said with a playful lifted eyebrow.
"Thank you John." She said quietly "that means a lot." She said with a smile "Especially considering who you're the father of." She said looking at Gilbert.
"Oh that has very little to do with me." He said with a chuckle "A little DNA..." he trailed.
"You're pretending 'the Mrs' had everything to do with it." Marilla said her eyes rolling.
"Well she did." John protested.
"And the fact that he reminds me so clearly of you?" she challenged it.
"Well," he said with a fake shrug "maybe it has to do with who we choose to marry." He said to her "Maybe they create nice boys." He said to her.
Marilla chuckled "And the male feminist? They can't learn that from their mothers?" she asked him with a glint in her eyes, the question was never going to be answered the kettle boiled behind them she went over to pour the liquids Anne came in flushed in the face and looking weary, Gilbert close in behind her.
"Anne, sweetheart?" John asked her "Are you okay?"
She looked to him and sighed with Gilbert protectively speaking for her. "No, she isn't." He said to them "she just looked positively green out there"
"Gil I'm fine!" she tried again.
"Don't try and fool me, I told you last term and I'll tell you it again, you've taken on too much, your first term back Anne and you're on antibiotics!" he told her. "Next semester, you're only taking the proper number of modules and you're cutting your time at the publishers in half." He said sternly.
"Don't tell me what I'll do!" Anne protested her jaw setting her eyes a flame.
"Anne," he tried calmly "please listen to reason, you're picking up sicknesses easier right now, its your body telling you, you're doing too much, its programmed to do it, so listen to your body!"
She looked at him for a moment before she felt dizzy, unknown to her Gilbert caught her in arms and carried her up to her bed in Green Gables.
When she woke she looked confused "How did I get here?" she asked him.
"You blacked out downstairs I brought you to bed to rest." He said quietly to which he received no response for a few seconds.
"Sorry." She said quietly, "I think you're right."
He chuckled before he quickly quipped "do you think?" he asked her with a grin. "I don't say those things to try and control you..." he told her "I know better then to try and control my redhead."
"Yes, blame it on that." She muttered.
"You know Queen Anne..." he started with a smile to her, "you know I couldn't control you even if your hair was not red."
"Damn right." She said organising the blanket he had put over her.
There was a knock on the door where Marilla appeared with a pot of tea two cups, sugar and milk "You know how to scare us young lady!" she said rather severely. She placed the tray across her legs and then looked at her with wide eyes "don't do it again." She told her.
Anne smiled softly kissing the women's cheek "Yes mother." She said to her. Marilla looked to her and rolled her eyes then asked Gilbert "Does she need a doctor?" Marilla asked him.
"Not at present." He said looking to her again with a smile, "Plenty of fluids and rest."
"That's what all doctors say when they have no idea whats wrong." Anne said with a wicked grin to him.
"Stress and too little sleep." He told her sternly "It has a big effect on the body."
"Gilbert, my almost doctor." Anne said with a smile to him.
"I'm sure if there was something to worry about he would want you to see a doctor who could practice." Marilla said with a smile.
"I would." Gilbert agreed. "It won't be long now until I can practice." Gilbert said with a grin. "Tests pending of course." He said.
"You'll pass." Marilla said "Not because you always have." She added quickly knowing the Blythe temperament "because you'll always will make sure of it."