Hi! Thank you so much for the support- I tried to finish as quick as i could for ya'll. After writing this chapter I now have a basic idea of where I want this story to go so stay tuned! Anyway, enjoy!

Anne could feel his footsteps come to a stop behind her. She could feel it in the sudden drop in the temperature and in the chill crawling down her bare neck. She placed the cup of punch back on the table and turned to face him, biting back a smile. "Gil, Its so nice to see you! How have you been?" His eyes darkened lustfully as he stepped closer to her, reaching for the glass she had just placed on the table. Anne's heart pulsed in her chest- a steady excitement itched at her toes, carefully rising like water to a dam- threatening to spill out at any given moment. She hoped it didn't. She was here with Roy and she had a certain reputation to upkeep. But oh! A piece of her was enjoying the thrill dancing across her skin and the dangerous looks Gilbert was offering as his eyes skimmed her bare arms and the thin silk adorning her body. "Will you dance with me, Anne?" He said boyishly, lending her his hand. Say no, Anne. It's not good for either of you. But the yearning in her chest overpowered the logic she knew not to ignore. She nodded her head afraid to speak- afraid that the emotions in her heart would bubble over, afraid that she would choke on her excitement and desires that shadowed each breathe and desperate thought.

He lead her through the tight-patched group of couples, dancing slowly amongst themselves. He turned to face her, smirking as he placed his hands on her waist. The crowd grew silent as they watched the interaction. "Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe? But isn't she practically engaged? And didn't she refuse him?"-they whispered to one another. But Anne couldn't hear them. Not now, when she was so absorbed by the man in front of her- as he stroked her hair and ran his calloused fingertips along her spine. Not now, as she felt his hand scrape along her hipbone, and gently outline the curve of her waist. Not now, as his skin slid against hers- slick like marble against her palms. Not now, as her eyes gently closed in bliss and pure satisfaction, and her breathe hitched in her throat with every movement and touch. Not, now. Not, now. This is what it felt to be loved, this is what love was! She gave it away, foolishly so; she turned it down! And now Gilbert would give this to someone else?! Gilbert Blythe, the man she loved-

Anne shot up in bed breathless, her bed sheets slipping to her waist, and the blood rushing in her ears. What was that?! She thought to herself, her cheeks burning in the heavy darkness of the sleepy night. She fell against her pillows and sighed through her nose. The dream was so realistic to Anne that she felt a sudden loneliness in the late hour. Her throat burned and her eyes welled with tears. She missed Gilbert. She missed the moments they shared as naive children and once again as teenagers. Everything was so out of reach now. The life she had come to love was slipping away like sand in a sieve and soon there would be nothing left to hold onto. She had taken advantage of the moments they could have had and now- their time together was coming to an end. There was no solution left for Anne. Her heart ached in her chest and bitter regret thawed at her frozen sides.

I don't know how to live without Gil.

I never should have let him go.

Not far from where Anne lay sleepless, Gilbert rested in his own bed- desperately searching for his own sleep. He couldn't stop seeing the evening over and over again his mind. She was standing in the center of the room, her hair tumbling down her shoulders, her body wrapped in pale silk. Her eyes gleamed with youth as she scanned the hall mirthfully. There was no sound other then the beating of his desperate heart as she looked from one person to the next, eagerly searching for someone Gilbert could only hope to be himself. He could still hear that voice whispering mercilessly"She doesn't want you. Don't bother. Don't waste your time." But it was drowned out. There was no sounds to be heard and there was nothing to be listened to. She had met his gaze carefully, and the blurred world dissipated around him.

For that moment in time, it was just them. No Roy, no Christine. There was no future and there was no past. Everything stood beautifully still and he could feel the pain in his chest seep out slowly. He stood so perfectly silent- watching, waiting. She looked at him in a way she never had before- like she wanted him. But he knew better to be fooled by her deceiving eyes. And yet, as Gil watched her turned away, he felt as if his heart was being ripped out and stomped on. He shouldn't have expected anything different.

This was Anne. This was what she does best.
Lovingly bring him to life only to kill him off again. And as much as Gilbert knew how wonderfully kind Anne was to others, it was almost as if she had no compassion towards him.

Gil pulled his arms to his chest, closing his eyes. He was done for. There was no more winning back what had already been won. She was taken- her laugh and her smiles. Her odd nervous habits, and her peculiar love for nature. Her heart and her porcelain skin. She was gone- she was already a fading dream and a fragment of his taunting past. It didn't matter how Gilbert felt and it never would. Anne Shirley was her own completely and now she was someone else's as well. A single tear leaked out from his eye, soaking into the well-worn blanket around his shoulders. It would be his last tear over her, he promised himself silently. No more crying over what can never be. It wasn't good for him- he knew it in his bones and as much as he wished he could be the one by her side, the time had come to move on.

Leaning his head back against his pillows, he could already feel the memories slip away.

But Anne was only beginning to remember:

She had looked up to him one last time. There was a note of finality in the air, and she had known it in her mind and in the pressure of the hand gripping her wrist. She wanted to memorize that moment, as terribly sad as it was. Something had told her then that she wouldn't be seeing Gil in a while and it had made her throat itch and her eyes sting. A spare curl hung over his forehead, she remembered. His eyelashes glistened against his smooth cheeks, his tall figure was leaning against the curtained ballroom wall- his hands jammed in his pockets. She couldn't see those bright eyes, not in those memories and not in any that she could recall. She wished she could. She missed those eyes. She needed them. She needed those eyes and she needed the laugh that came with it. Where was Gil now? Was he in love with Christine as everyone said? Was he happy? Did he miss her? Did he still care for Anne? Why did he let go?

Why did he give up on me?
How could he give up on me?

But she knew it was her fault and in a way, it made it so much worse. She pushed him away, she shut him out. Gil wasn't coming back this now. Not anymore. She mistreated him time and time again, and he finally gave up.

There was a life they could have had. A life of beauty. A life of love and laughter and everything Anne could have wanted. But it was out of reach now. Her fate was made, her future was settled. There was no way to change the choices she had made, just like there was no way to take them back. And now, she would live the rest of her life haunted by the possibilities she never took and the choices she never made.