Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the long delays between posting. I'm in the UK and we have a six weeks holidays and I have two kids... soooo...

Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement, they aren't ignored or forgotten I feel privileged that people care so much!

Some of you guessed, but here's the next chapter...

love Carrots xx

Gilbert kept his arm around her as they arrived back in the apartment, he took her into the bedroom and lay her down "Try to get some sleep." He whispered to her stoking her hair for a moment before he kissed her head "I'll go and get you a hot water bottle and some tea." He told her softly.

'This is worrying' he thought to himself as he shut the bedroom door. Anne had recovered while still in Avonlea, she had enjoyed the last couple of days there, they'd even taken a walk up to Hester's Garden, something they rarely got to do nowadays, she was so happy that day he had loved taking her to the garden.

They packed the four by four up and headed back to Kingsport, but by the time they arrived Anne looked not only pale but green, she had been sick twice coming up the freeway Gilbert having to make emergency stops on the side of the road.

He took a heavy sigh filling the kettle with water then sharing some of that water with the tea maker. He took a sigh as his phone played the ringtone saying he got an e-mail, he looked at it and saw it was from school. He read the brief then looked at the timetable. He took a heavy sigh and tried to focus on the positive.

There in front of him was the rota's for going into the hospital for the first time. They were observing only but still, it was a warm up for the following year. He looked down at his phone again with a deep sigh.

Three weeks in emergency medicine, first thing. Well this one was a tough one and he knew it, this one was not a nine till five, he would history take, , coming up with care plans.

Immediately after that he would be in Family Medicine for six weeks then after that six weeks in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, then the big one Internal medicine, that one incorporated the objectives of general internal medicine as well as the specialities of internal medicine. Four weeks in general medicine, four weeks in a ward-based medicine speciality, two weeks in a clinic-based speciality and two weeks in geriatric medicine.

He took a deep breath trying to concentrate on the e-mail but let go of the breath putting his phone in his pocket as the kettle boiled, there was a knock on the door. He looked up and walked over to the door to find Cornelia standing with key in hand.

"Your key Doctor." She said with a grin.

He smiled kindly "Thank you, I take it, she didn't use it." Cornelia shrugged to him "it was a long shot." He admitted.

"It was, but worth the doing." Cornelia admitted. "I'm just sorry she didn't take it."

"Well, leaving an abusive partner can be intimidating." He said quietly.

"We don't know tha..." she start but with a shot look from Gilbert, she knew he knew the truth of the situation. "I hate this unspoken knowledge stuff." He admitted.

"Me too." Cornelia admitted.

"So," he said trying to change the subject, "Anne tells me there's a girl."

"Did Anne also say it was casual?" Cornelia asked him.

"She did." Gilbert admitted "though I think she was kind of hoping it wouldn't be, that true love could find a way."

Cornelia tutted "True love." She said rolling her eyes when she looked back to Gilbert and the shocked look on his face she almost laughed "Come now Doctor, you can't believe in true love?" she asked him.

"I believe in love, I believe love is truth," he said "and look at me and Anne." He said with a grin "I don't believe in the fairytales but I do believe we can make it work with someone, when we really make our minds and our hearts up to do it."

"I think there's a romantic side of you." She admitted with a smile.

"So not Abbey?" Gilbert asked.

"It was only fun." Cornelia repeated.

"Was?" he asked.

"Yes, was, as in over." She admitted. They remained silent for a moment before she started "I hope..." she shrugged and shook her head "I hope I can find someone who matches me like you and Anne match." She said with a smile. "Speaking of Queen Anne...?" she asked

"Oh, it was a tough ride home," he admitted "she's just lying down." He said with a grin "I was about to go and serve her tea." He added.

Cornelia grinned "I'll leave you to it then."

He shut the door with a goodbye took a deep breath, his mind coming back to his current predicament of his e-mail and his girlfriend, he'd make sure Anne was comfortable, then start to panic over his career choices.

He carefully took in the items and found Anne was sitting up.

"You need to be sleeping." He told her gently.

"I don't feel tired, or I can't sleep." She told him "I'm not sure which."

"Goes to show you need the rest." He said sitting on the bed with her "In the meantime, you can always keep me company." He said with a smile to her. She smiled and hugged into him when he told her "I received my first rota for observation." He said to her trying to sound light about it.

Anne looked up at him with a smile "You're scared." She said with s grin.

"Terrified!" he admitted with a smile.

Anne nodded and kissed into his neck for a moment before settling right next to it. "You don't need to take care of me you know." She said to him gently. "If you should be concentrating on school."

"No." He said shaking his head "I promised myself these holidays and just because we came back it doesn't mean I need to snap to it." He said to her.

"You need..." she started.

"I need to take care of you." He whispered to her "You're more important then medical school."

"Gil!" She exclaimed in surprise when he kissed her gently.

She smiled softly and asked "aren't you scared? You could catch whatever I have."

He shrugged and said "Worth it." He grinned.

"At least you didn't mess up on rounds." Josh sulked as they stood in the elevator going up to the apartment.

"It could be worse." Gilbert said with a grin "at least you gave an answer..." Gilbert started.

"The wrong one." Josh muttered.

"At least it was an answer, it's better then Murray when he froze." Gilbert said giving the best impression of Murray he could.

Josh chuckled and shrugged "I just, I should have known, or realised, or known the answer." He said "I hate seeming the village idiot, the fool."

Gilbert's bottom lip protruded and he shrugged "You know Shakespeare in King Lear, uses the character named 'the fool' to speak out, to say all the things the audience, the other characters were thinking but its never said, a sort of mouthpiece of reason in Lear's madness, he's considered by most as Lear's protector after Cordelia is banished."

"And now my friendly knave I thank thee." Josh said with a grin to his friend which made Gilbert laugh as the doors opened to the apartment.

They looked in and from the doors they saw Anne was asleep on the sofa.

Josh looked at her concerned then to Gilbert.

"She's been tired of late." Gilbert said to Josh, "I said she should slow down, I don't know if she has." He said quietly.

"Its not like Anne to be tired." Josh said quietly. "How long has it been happening?"

Gilbert shrugged and whispered "Since she was on the antibiotics really." He said to Josh "Although I know it cleared up the infection." He said stroking Anne's head alerting her to his presence "Hello my Queen." He whispered to her "Its okay you don't have to wake up, but I'm going to take you to the bedroom okay?" he told her "Josh is here to go over some notes, I'd hate to disturb you." He told her.

He picked her up in his arms where she murmured "I'm just so tired!" she told him.

"I know love." Josh heard Gilbert tell her. He smiled at the intimacy they seemed to have so naturally. He wandered to the book shelf looking at the picture of them together in the photo frame. "Sorry about that." Gilbert said coming back into the living room area.

"It's okay really." Josh said with a smile. "Wish her well for me." He said to Gilbert.

"Hey beautiful." He said leaning over the sofa and kissing her on her forehead a couple of weeks later, "Are you feeling any better?" he asked her.

"No." She said cradling the hot water bottle to her stomach again. "Are you sure a bacterial infection couldn't travel down to my tummy?" she asked him.

"About that." He said to her practically. "Can you tell me what you remember of New Years Eve?" he asked her.

"I was feeling better it was a week after I finished my antibiotics, we went to Charlie's for his New Years Eve Party, it was fun, we walked home, rather tipsy." She said with a grin.

"We were." He said with a grin on his face, "Do you remember what we did? Down on the Millers Bench at Barry's Bond?" he asked.

"Vividly." She said to him which made them both smile at the memory.

"Did you know that Antibiotics can affect the effectiveness of the pill?" he told her.

"Yes." She confirmed "The doctor told us to use a condom for the duration and a week afterwards, which we did." She confirmed.

"Just." He confirmed, "We weren't exactly equipped for it down by Barry Pond." He reminded her.

"But that was a week after." She said.

"I know, but..." he said pulling out a pregnancy test from his bag, "I figured, just in case?" he asked her with a shrug.

She looked a little shocked at the box then back at Gilbert her hand subconsciously moving to her stomach a little smile playing at her lips "You think I could be pregnant?" she asked him, to which she received a nod from him a little smile playing on his lips "I-I, Um, can I-, will that be accurate this early on?" she asked Gilbert.

"Most doctors recommend waiting until after missing the first period." He said looking to her with the smile still playing at his lips "I know its not as easy to tell on the pill." He said to her "but all the same," he continued "Its been almost a month, this is well clear of that time restraint."

"Can I take it now?" she asked him.

He smiled that she had defaulted to asking him the questions, a Anne of clearer thinking would be reading the box! "HCG is usually found in higher concentrations on the first trip in the morning, but it is detectable any time of day." He told her practically. "Plus there are two tests in that box, if we get a negative now we could always try again in the morning."

"Okay." She said nodding her head "Okay." She repeating sitting up the box still in hand and she moved towards the bathroom. "Okay, I can do this." She said nodding her head she reached the door then turned and looked at Gilbert "I don't think I can do this." She told him her body physically shaking.

He grinned moving over to her and whispered "But you could be pregnant!" he said with a smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling?" she asked seriously. "Do you know what this means?!" she asked panicked coming back to the sofa and standing behind him.

"That us Blythe's are made of tougher stuff then birth control pills?" he asked her to which he received a playful slap on the arm.

"But what about school!? What about medical school! What about studying and how are we going to afford..." she started but was cut off by a soft set of lips pressing into hers.

He pulled back looking onto her eyes and whispered "We'll manage." He told her "We'll do better then that, we'll thrive like we always do!"

"You aren't scared by the thought are you?" she asked to, to which he only chuckled and swept his hand along her stomach.

"I would have got Anne Shirley pregnant!" he exclaimed quietly his eyes dancing he whispered "Do you know how many fantasies the act which created the baby went through a seventeen year old's mind." He said to her and with a playful eyebrow be assured her "and trust me he knew that could be one of the consequences and it did not turn him off at all!" he told her.

She chuckled before she asked "Really?"

"Oh yeah!" he told her "Getting you pregnant is proof that I got lucky!" he chuckled which made Anne laugh in return.

"You horny little...!" she started but got cut off again by his lips. She chuckled as they parted and asked him to join her in the bathroom.

He nodded saying "Together is always better."

"It says two minutes on the box." He said as she put the pregnancy test flat on the sink he set off the timer on his phone as she sat next to him on the floor.

"If I am pregnant," Anne started "What would you like first? A girl or a boy?" she asked him.

"Girl." He said straight away.

"Really?" She asked him surprised, then with a chuckled said "but you're a boy, don't you want a son first?" she asked.

"Na." He said with a shrug, "I want a little girl to wrap me round her little finger." He said

"Don't you want a boy to... I don't know play football with?" she asked him.

"I can play football with a girl as well as I can a boy." He said to Anne with a grin when she laughed. "I don't know, A girl, red hair.." he trailed with a smile and a gentle tug of her hair. "Like her mommy." He said with a smile to her.

"No!" Anne objected, "I can not curse another child with this hair!" she exclaimed.

"But its beautiful!" he exclaimed seriously. "Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes, red hair and your gorgeous, beautiful eyes." He said his eyes closing his lips upturned he head resting on the wall behind him "Your perfect nose, Your attitude I could never be happy if my girls were submissive, your imagination to get them through this world."

"She must get something from you." Anne said her features softening reflecting again just how much Gilbert loved her.

"No, you're perfect." He said in a reverent whisper.

She smiled softly sitting in silence for a moment in awe of the man in front of her, her heart really had made a wonderful choice all those years ago "perhaps your ability to love so unselfishly and forgive so willingly." She finally said just before Gilbert's phone alarm went off his eyes snapped open pulling the alarm across the screen to stop it. "Its time." She said to him, she went up on her knees and reached across the sink and she picked up the pregnancy test, her eyes settling on two blue lines in the window. Words couldn't escape her mouth she was so astonished! It was a few seconds later when Gilbert came up on his knees behind her to look at the result a loud ecstatic yell from his mouth in the positive confirmed she wasn't seeing things.

It was then in one sweep he came up off his knees and she was in his arms being carried around the apartment "I knew it, I knew it Anne-Girl!" he exclaimed in joy. "Oh my god, You're pregnant!" he said spinning her around bringing her legs to the floor once they were in front of the window "I-I'm, I'm going to be a daddy!" he said his breath sounding as though it was only just catching his hands slipping down to her still flat stomach he knelt in front of her and whispered into her stomach "Our baby." He whispered to her stomach. "Ours." He repeated as if it made it real, She smiled down watching his reaction.

It wasn't the perfect timing, or the perfect situation, but this was perfect.

"Hello baby," he whispered kissing Anne's stomach which sent butterflies all up her. "I'm daddy, though you probably already know me, don't you?" he asked her. "Way to go kid!" he said a smile spreading across his face. "I love you." He whispered again to the stomach which made Anne's heart melt into a puddle as his hands reached around her and hugged into her stomach whispering sweet nothings to the baby. He suddenly let go as if afraid of what he just did to her. "Sorry." He said softly.

"Don't be." She told him. "I want you to be close to the baby."

He smiled then pressed his lips to her stomach before he started singing to it "I've got sunshine on a cloudy day..."

Anne laughed "Gilbert!" she exclaimed.

"When its cold outside...I've got the month of May."

"what if its..."

"Well!" He cut across singing still "I guess you say, what can make me feel this way?!

"its a boy?" Anne finished

"My Girl! My Girl My girl! Talk about my girl!"

Anne smiled looking at him her eyes twinkling at the sight.

He looked up at her and whispered "Are you happy?" he asked her.

She chuckled and whispered "Course I am." She admitted. "Just a little struck!" she added

He stood back up in front of her and kissed her about her lips and face. "I love you Anne." He whispered gently caressing her cheeks with his hands lightly. "I can't believe this is happening!" he exclaimed softly.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this happy." She said to him.

"You have, twice." He told her gently "the day we got together and the day we got together." He said with a twinkle in his eye. With it he suddenly dropped down on one knee and held onto her hand "Marry me?" he asked her.

Anne's jaw dropped as she looked down to him in disbelief. "Gil..." she whispered before she looked again at his face, it didn't look like she imagined it would when he asked "Why?" she asked.

"Why?" he echoed

"Yes why, why do you want to marry me?" she asked him a bit more clearly.

"Be-because, You're pregnant, you're carrying my child, you're here and I'm here and we should be a family we should be married." He said shifting on his knee.

Anne took a quick deep breath closing her eyes for a moment before she pulled him up so he was standing next to her, she let his arms envelop her. "I don't want you to misunderstand this Gilbert so please listen." She told him before she sat them both down on the sofa. "I love you, I love you more then I thought I could love anyone, you have supported me and been my lifeline since the day I met you, I know you understand this because I know I'm yours as well," she said to him, to which she got a quick nod from him "And I want to marry you one day." She told him straight. "So ask me again one day, maybe then it will be yes." She told him.

"You're saying no?" he asked her looking disappointed.

"You're asking me out of a sense of honour and that is a good thing. Believe me." She said hugging into him. "But love, when you propose, it should be about us."

"But this is about..." he started.

"It was about the baby." She told him softly. "And its good that you love the baby so much." She assured him "When I say yes, I'll say it because you asked because you loved me, not because of one night under the stars where my pill wasn't 100% effective." She said with a smile to him. They sat in silence for a moment before she whispered to him "You don't regret making the baby, do you?" she asked him.

"Never." He whispered back their lips pressing against each other for a moment one hand coming down and holding her stomach, he pulled back with a smile on his face "a perfect mix of me and you." He whispered. "I do so love you Anne." He told her. "I swear, I'm going to be the best daddy in the world!"

Anne chuckled softly. "I know you will be."

"We need to celebrate!" he exclaimed happily.

"Gil come on what are we going to do? Go for a drink?" she asked him.

"Is it too early for cravings?" he asked her after a moments thought.

"Cravings?" she asked him.

"Anything, anything you want?" he asked her.

She thought for a moment then shrugged "I don't know if its a craving exactly..." she trailed thoughtfully.

"Anne, anything!" he almost pleaded.

"Doughnuts." She said quietly.

"Doughnuts?" he asked. "Okay, okay." He crossing the room with her taking their jackets off the coat hanger. "Krispy Kreme?" he asked her.

"Yes, please." She softly. Gilbert pressed the button for the lift. "I can't decide Caramel Kreme crunch, or cinnamon apple filled?" she said wondering.

He smiled at her and told her "You can have both." He said with a grin. "Mix them together if you like, you can do all sorts of disgusting things now you're pregnant, no one will batter an eyelid!" before a wicked smile appeared on his lips and his rendition of 'my girl' continued.

Gilbert woke early the next morning, upon finding Anne asleep on her back he slid close to her side and careful not to wake her tracked his fingers across her stomach his lips upturned in a sweet smile, he was imagining what the baby was like, or at least would be like. He imagined holding a baby, looking up at him would be a pair a big grey eyes staring into his soul. This baby knew him already, they had a hold on his heart and knew it. The baby looked at him, with glowing eyes and a charming smile. He couldn't take his eyes off the babe as he held it in his arms and a feeling of pride and love washed over him closely followed by what he used to believe was so primal he barely believed he could feel it himself. Protectiveness.

He curled up next to Anne and started whispering to the baby again. It wasn't about anything in particular, nothing important, and as he spoke Anne woke gently.

"Do you think it understands?" she asked him.

"Not yet." He said honestly "but one day she'll react, she'll recognise a sound a rhythm a pitch something about a voice, its how she recognises you, you know?" he asked her "its so much closer with you because she hears everything you do and say and sing, but she also feels the difference in your body, its what helps her learn, about basic emotions, and how when she's born she recognises not only your scent but your voice, your heartbeat, she knows it from the womb and it'll help her relax." He continued "You know there's research which confirms that babies recognises familiar voices even classical music where if you play a simple melody to the baby before they are born they recognise it after birth." He told the bump.

"And you want the baby to recognise you?" Anne asked him. He nodded, smiled then started to sing 'My Girl' again.