Another week has gone by and I can't quite believe its been a week! Life has been so crazy so one day just blended into the next, I hope the worse of it is over but we shall see!

I know people have questions and I wish I could tell you the answers all at once but sometimes it would mean spoilers and I don't know if you would want them! But I love this chapter, it gets steamy! Literally!

love

Carrots x

"Surprise!" the person on the other side of the door said as Anne opened it.

"Ruby!" Anne exclaimed.

"Guess who I found!" Josie said with a smile to Anne as they came in the door.

"Spence." Anne said with a smile to him "Gilbert will be glad to see you."

"Thanks Anne." He replied.

"What are you guys doing back? Last I heard you were in Australia?"

"We were." Ruby said.

"And the nineteen hour flight just enticed us back." Spencer said with a grin.

"Spence?" Gilbert was heard coming out of the bedroom his eyes lit up as he saw the other male in the room. "Oh my God I thought that was you?!" he exclaimed crossing the room the two males crossed half handshake half hug made the girls grin as they sat down Ruby observed

"I can't believe you live in this fancy apartment Anne. This is what education gets you!" She said quite envious.

"I can't believe you're travelling the world! That's what experience gets you." Anne exclaimed.

"Yet you still come back to cold Canada?" Gilbert half teased.

"That's what I said." Spencer said with a look to Ruby.

"I may have travelled the world over but I've never seen a sight more beautiful then home." She proclaimed. "Plus the world will still be there in a couple of weeks, when we fly back out." She assured Spencer.

"What brought you back?" Anne asked.

There was a silence in the room before Ruby admitted "Well, you and Gil." She said quietly.

A recognition dawned on Anne's face.

"I'm so sorry." Ruby said quietly, I didn't even know you had been pregnant until my mother told me and then she said you lost the baby over what five months ago!" she exclaimed "it devastated me I couldn't even be a friend and be here for you!" she exclaimed.

"No, no don't be." Anne said to her taking her by her hands to reassure her "trust me, not even Diana could make it down here, but we've skyped and she wishes she could come and see me..." Anne trailed.

"Well two babies of her own makes it hard to do." Josie admitted.

"Its how it is." She said with a shrug.

"I'll admit I had no idea how to approach it." Josie told her "Honestly all the theoretical training in the world can't prepare you for real life." Josie admitted "I'm sorry."

"So so Sorry." Ruby emphasised.

"Don't be." Anne said. "There's not much you or anyone else could have done." She said Anne took a deep sigh. "Now if you want to see we have pictures." She said quietly. "She really was a gorgeous baby."

"Oh my gosh!" Ruby exclaimed "I would love to!" she said as Anne got up to get her laptop and all the papers they had kept together for Joy.

"How are you doing man?" Spencer asked Gilbert.

Gilbert gave a deep sigh and said "Its not as physical with me." Gilbert admitted.

"No." Spencer agreed. "it doesn't mean emotionally it wasn't hard." He said.

Gilbert nodded "its hard, sorting through it all." He admitted "both of our feelings mine and Anne's, it was all hard work..."

"But you are doing it together, aren't you?" he asked.

There was a silence in the room as even the girls listened to the answer "Yes." He confirmed.

"We are doing it together." Anne confirmed sitting back down. "it was bumpy for a while but we're working through it." She looked around at the small group of friends "It almost feels like Avonlea." She said with a smile to them "but where are my manners, does anyone need a drink?"

With a couple of sounds in the positive Anne moved into the kitchen where she was closely followed by Ruby.

"Is there something wrong Ruby?" she asked.

"My sister had a miscarriage you know, a couple of years back," Ruby told her to which Anne looked to her surprised. "She and her husband were madly in love until that point then everything seemed to fall apart." She continued "she told me that they never made love after loosing the baby and she thought that is what contributed to their divorce." She told Anne.

"Oh?" Anne asked concerned "I am sorry for her Ruby."

"Have you been intimate since loosing Joy?" she asked quietly.

Anne flushed for a moment "Um, well, we did once..." she trailed uncomfortably. "Sort of." She said quietly, "It was reassuring it was intimate it was..."

"Not passionate?" Ruby asked.

Anne thought for a moment and said "No I don't think you could call it that." She admitted. "But Ruby its surely healthy that we're not rushing back into it this soon..." Anne trailed.

"I would just hate to see all that passion lost, and its been what five months?!" She exclaimed "No one, and I mean no one has it like Gilbert and you." She said with a smile.

"Its not like that." Anne said thoughtfully. "Our intimacy isn't in sex, we're intimate in many other ways, sex is just an extension or an expression of it."

"Just..." Ruby said thoughtfully "Don't wait too long, I think that's what happened with my sister." She said quietly.

Anne smiled and gave her friend a hug before the doorbell rang. They watched as Gilbert cross the apartment and open the door where Cornelia, Leslie and Owen stood. Gilbert greeted them by name and a smile "we were just having a little Avonlea reunion." Gilbert told them.

"We don't mean to intrude." Leslie said quietly.

"No, no." Anne said to her, "Don't be silly, you've met Josie before this is Ruby and Spencer."

We we're just about to bring up some footage of high school." Josie said with a smile, something she had clearly been talking to Gilbert about. "I have a ton of it." She smiled.

"Oh, the doctor and Anne, lets see then." Cornelia said with a flash grin to them.

Josie cast the video from her phone onto the television and up came some younger versions of themselves.

"Anne!" Cornelia exclaimed as Anne came over putting the glasses down with Ruby's help "You look exactly the same! Except..." she smiled "whats with the grunge look?"

Anne sat next to Gilbert his arm going around her.

"Your hair!" Leslie exclaimed, "Oh Anne! How could you straighten your hair like that!"

Anne chuckled "My hair has a lot more curl in it now." She smiled as Gilbert played with it for a moment.

"Beautiful." Gilbert said to her sentimentally.

"And the clothes?" Ruby asked as Cornelia took a sip of her drink, "You changed an awful lot that summer you went away with Gilbert."

That seemed too much for Cornelia when her water went spraying out of her mouth across the room. "What!?" she exclaimed almost choking.

"We won the school elections we were head and vice of the student council we went away for a month together for a bunch or politically motivated speakers for a month!" she said gabbing Gilbert in the side gently.

"What?" he asked "we had fun didn't we?" he asked her his brows playing with her.

"What does this have to do with a wardrobe change?" Cornelia asked.

"Well I thought with meeting politicians and such like my outfits should be a bit more smart and formal I mean not suits or anything just a bit more girly." Anne sighed "And Gilbert may have complimented me once or twice about..." she trailed and smiled at him "...everything."

"So he really was in love with you from day one?" Leslie asked.

Gilbert grinned for a moment before Ruby exclaimed "Oh see for yourself!"

With that the younger Gilbert appeared on the screen. "Sorry I'm late everyone, Coach needed a quick word which ended up being a bit longer then a quick word." With that said the younger Gilbert looked at the camera "Josie what's with the camera?" he asked.

"For my media project, its about 'what is popular?' I thought you would be the perfect subject!" The Younger Josie flirted behind the camera, with that said both Gilbert and Anne burst out laughing while the adult Josie blushed wildly.

"Oh my God!" Josie said lowly.

The younger Gilbert rolled his eyes and said something to the younger Charlie unheard.

"What did you say?" Ruby asked Gilbert.

"That she's be better off with him." Gilbert grinned pointing at the younger Charlie "a sentiment I stick by."

"Fine, just don't let it interfere." The younger Gilbert said "Right the debate today, Charlie, I believe you are the chair judge today," to which he got a nod from the younger Charlie "Topic: should all bathrooms be gender neutral as to not discriminate against people of transgender or of other gender preferences." The younger Gilbert started. "Today is draw of luck..." he said a small smile appearing on his younger lips as the pieces of paper were being passed around.

"What's so funny?" Anne asked the now Gilbert.

"Well its draw of luck right? Kind of ironic isn't it, do we or don't we get to choose our sex, its genetic? So is gender different? Or social constrains? Is that a draw of luck or something deeper then that?" he said with a grin to her.

"Fors on this side of the room, againsts on this side." The younger Gilbert said as the room reorganised itself. The dissatisfied look of the younger Anne when she noticed that she was going to be on the same side as Gilbert this week. Something which again made Gilbert chuckled holding her closer and whisper "I got you!" he teased.

The two teams started to prepare where upon it was seen that Anne was talking with quite some passion on her side. The camera however was focused on the nearby Gilbert. The younger man listening intently to begin with, taking down a few notes as she spoke.

"Look what happens." Josie said to Ruby with a knowing smile.

Because of the distance you couldn't see what Gilbert said which seemed to infuriate the younger Anne but she quickly snapped at him about it and with the snap the younger Gilbert looked down into his notebook with a smile on his face a look of admiration on his face, with a soft look of love blushing from him, before he looked up at her when she looked away with the exact same look on his face.

"Awwwww!" was the collective response of everyone in the room as they turned and looked at the now Gilbert, the same look blushing from his face as his eyes was only on Anne.

"He still looks at you that way." Owen said with a smile.

"So when was this?" Leslie asked.

"Junior year," Anne replied, "Oh and I hated Gilbert, or maybe was this after Christmas?" Anne asked.

Josie backed up the video looking at the date of it "Yes." She confirmed. "Why is the date important?" Josie asked.

"After Christmas, I knew I no longer hated him, I still acted as though I did, he wasn't my friend, but..."

"You didn't hate me?" Gilbert asked her surprised.

Anne shook her head, "After the Christmas dance, when you saved me from Charlie." She confirmed. "I didn't know it, at the time, I mean I suppose it was long before then in reality, but with you having done that for me, I knew I couldn't be angry anymore."

Gilbert's breath caught "I didn't know that." He said to her.

"Oh I have that!" Josie exclaimed, "the Christmas Dance, junior year I have it! I had Marcus take camera shots for the year book."

Anne smiled "That's how you did it!" she smiled "I wondered."

Sure enough she brought up the dance "it was the sweethearts dance right?" she asked moving it forward in time, where a lot of people could be seen the camera not focused on Gilbert and Anne but it couldn't be helped to be seen when Josie's foot stomped on the floor, the adult Josie still looking embarrassed by her past behaviour.

"Wow Josie that dress!" Cornelia exclaimed.

"I know!" She exclaimed. "Oh my god I look like a hooker!" she exclaimed.

"No!" Anne objected "no it was just a little... revealing." She tried.

"No wonder you didn't want to dance with me." Josie said to Gilbert, "Although why did you go to Anne?" she wondered.

"The song is important." Gilbert cut in, "I knew she would have a hard time with it, I thought that if Charlie made his moves on her it would only make it worse."

"He came to save me." Anne said with a smile.

When the camera swung back in the direction of Anne and Gilbert it could be seen that he was holding her against him her face unseen but the hug was quite visible. For a brief few seconds the younger Gilbert's eyes fluttered shut, a relaxed look appeared on his face followed by a deep breath in.

The Anne in the room looked to Gilbert again "You look so relaxed." She said sadly, truth was it had been a while since he had looked like that.

"I had you in my arms, course I was." He said squeezing her now.

"There are a ton of these!" Josie exclaimed happily. "Ohhh this one!" she said, casting the next video to the screen.

"Oh," Gilbert said recognising it immediately "Graduation Prom." He said with a grin. "God, Anne." He said looking at the image of the younger Anne on the screen "You were stunning that night." He said to her and with it the young Anne on the screen greeted the younger Gilbert on screen and for the first time Gilbert saw the way younger Anne looked at him while the younger him had put on the homemade corsage. Everyone's eyes in the apartment looked at the pair with a knowing grin.

"I think its well established we're in love." Anne said in reply to the looks. Gilbert beamed and kissed her satisfied on the cheek.

The apartment quiet everyone had left for the evening Gilbert stepped into a steamy shower, he felt as though the cares of the day needed washing away. He closed his eyes allowing the heated water to both bounce and absorb into his skin, he was surprised, (mostly because he didn't hear the shower door open) by a small soft white pair of hands touching first his back then a set of arms snaked around him, he turned around his bare torso now pressed against his, he only just visually confirmed it was Anne, before he felt her lips on his, his eyes shutting again enjoying the embrace, his hands reaching round her waist resting on her lower back.

"Can we be them for tonight?" she asked him as he looked up surprised "you be high school Gilbert and I be high school Anne." She asked kissing into his neck, the sensation sizzled through his veins the tingling shivered him despite the heat "without all the hang ups." She said with a grin.

"Then you wouldn't be her." He said lowly before he gasped at her coming to her tiptoes, resting their hips close to the others "Ahh!" he gasped "Oh love I love it when I can feel your hips against mine!" he exclaimed "I could have really done with this back then!" he chuckled.

She pulled back with a giggle and looked him in the eyes. "Can we?" she asked him softly which got an immediate bodily response from him. Something which made her grin her feet coming down her lips trailing across his chest her hand smoothing over the newly inked art, she paused and smiled softly at it before she felt his hand cupping her breast his fingers likewise smoothing at her ink, he looked into her eyes and said

"I do want to." He admitted with a grin, "I was starting to think we could easily leave the sex out, just leave it to one side and forget about that sort of intimacy, not that its what I want, and yes I do want to but..."

"It would be easier." Anne nodded agreeing. "I want you, but then I think about Joy..." her fingers at his ink again "...and its still hard."

Something which Gilbert nodded to, "but then I'm a selfish being and I think..." he said with a grin before they kissed slowly and romantically again "Where did this come from?" he asked her sweeping strands of hair from her face back into the water to join the rest of her hair, dampening down to curls.

"You." She whispered. Before she clarified "Seeing the Gilbert you were in high school and how much you really have loved me from the start, and seeing it develop, just through high school, not even into college, seeing it start, then the other day Captain Jim, he talked about losing Maggie, and I thought how scared you would have been, having just lost Joy then almost me, and I thought how I would feel if I lost you tomorrow and we never had sex again" she shrugged, "I wanted to..." she blushed for a moment trailing.

"Make love?" Gilbert questioned.

Anne sighed whispering "Yeah."

He smiled and kissed into her wet shoulder before he whispered "this feels like that first shower we took together," he said to her "do you remember?" he asked.

She laughed "How could I forget." She admitted "our first." She grinned wrapping her arms around his neck rest on his shoulders "that was a um," she flirted "pretty good weekend."

"Oh only pretty good?" he smiled pining her playfully against the screen of the shower.

"Maybe I need reminding." She flirted more.

His smile brightened to the point where his dimples were showing, for the first time Anne could remember. "I wouldn't change a thing," he said quietly "I think you need to know it more often Anne-Girl," he continued "I think you need to know that I would still fall in love with you, I would still wait for two years, I would still go on that climb I would still fall deeper in love with you, I would still move in with you, I would still get you pregnant, I will still stay," he whispered "because I love you." He told her "I don't say it enough."

Anne climbed up him, Gilbert in sync lifted her, Her arms went around his neck her legs around his waist. "I love you too." She whispered "and me too, I'd do it all again, if it meant I got to be with you, I'd do it all again."

"You want to make love?" he asked her softly.

"Yeah." She confirmed.

"To me?" he clarified holding her tighter so she could feel the reaction he was having.

Which only made Anne giggle "Yes to you, although the Gilbert in high school was pretty hot..." she trailed her teeth biting into her bottom lip.

"Oh?!" Gilbert replied surprised.

"Shut up!" She teased him "You knew you were hot!"

"Well I just went from pretty hot to hot in five seconds..." He said with a joking tone and a cocky smile "I wonder what I am today?" he baited her his hands playing at her backside.

She leaned forward and kissed his firmly her fingers massaging into his scalp trailing back and forward until she finally pulled away looked him in the eyes and answered his question as hot as the water. "Mine."