Chapter Text
Things began to go wrong two weeks before the Harvest Festival was supposed to open. Many of Avonlea’s citizens began catching a strain of the flu that was going around and had to be hospitalized. Including Anne.
“I’m not sick!” Anne exclaimed into the phone. She was forced to stay in her office while everyone else remained safe in the conference room. “I swear it’s just allergies.” Then Anne sneezed directly on the phone, causing everyone in the conference room to grimace and gag.
“Anne, you’re sick. Go home,” Josie said. She hung up on Anne, making it harder to argue. The truth was Anne was indeed feeling under the weather, but she could still work. This was her project and she would see it through to the end. Right after she threw up.
Her lie became harder to believe the longer the day went on. Did work always go on for eternity? Was it always so cold in her office? Was it always so hot in her office? Anne felt like she just ran twelve miles in a hoodie and sweatpants. Wait, no, now she felt like she was in the arctic.
“Jeez, what happened to you?” Jerry asked. He and Gilbert walked into Anne’s office, both with papers for her to sign. “You didn’t look this bad an hour ago.”
“Oh, gee, thanks Jerry, that’s what every girl wants to hear,” Anne said, though her voice sounded hoarse even to her ears.
Gilbert placed the back of his hand on Anne’s forehead and she suddenly didn’t feel so cold anymore. “Wow, you’re burning up,” he said.
“ You’re burning up.” Anne said. “What?” Okay, there was absolutely something wrong with her now if she was babbling like this in front of Gilbert.
“Have you been to the hospital?” Gilbert asked. Anne shook her head; there simply wasn’t any time. She had a whole festival to plan, she couldn’t worry about stupid things like her health. “Okay, I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Anne gripped the edge of her desk as Gilbert tried to help her up. “No! I have to get ready for the Chamber of Secrets.”
“Commerce,” Gilbert corrected.
“Commerce, yes, whatever. My speech isn’t revised, so I simply cannot go to the hospital.”
Gilbert stepped away from Anne and she almost missed the lightness of his fingers on her shoulders. Then he snatched Anne’s speech, which was riddled with red pen marks, and bolted out of Anne’s office.
“Gilbert Blythe!” Anne screamed, running after him.
“You’ll get your speech back at the hospital!”
Maybe Anne was sick. She felt worse than she had all day, with chills racking her body and sweat lining her forehead. She let Gilbert take her to the hospital (after she snatched her speech back) and let Diana diagnose her.
“Anne, you have a fever. I have to admit you,” Diana said, coaxing Anne into a room. Gilbert followed closely behind. In Anne’s personal opinion, he was worrying about her too much. Sure, she might have been sick, and sure, she would have to miss the Chamber of Commerce and leave Gilbert and Jerry all alone, but it would be fine. She would be fine.
Or I’ll lose my job.
She had to get to that meeting.
“Here’s some medicine,” Diana said once Anne was settled. “It’s pretty powerful, so prepare to be a little loopy.”
Gilbert waited for Diana to leave before saying, “I can get you some food, if you’d like. I know hospital food isn’t really the best.”
Anne’s stomach gurgled at the mention of food but she needed to be alone. She needed to down as much flu medicine as she could to make it to that meeting.
“Thanks, Gil, but I’m okay. Go get ready for the… the…” What were they doing again?
Gilbert laughed. “I will. You get some rest.”
“I will.” Not.
Anne felt slightly guilty about lying to Gilbert and abusing Diana’s position, but in her defense, everything was on the line. She had to go to this meeting. She had to give her speech. It was a very good speech; people should be able to hear it.
Anne took her medicine, the bitter taste of cherry almost making her gag. She tried changing back into her clothes, which led to her struggling to put a pair of pants on her head for five whole minutes. She didn’t really need pants, did she?
As Anne was contemplating the true nature of pants and if they even helped society, Diana decided to enter Anne’s room.
“What are you doing?” Diana asked. Anne froze.
“Just… getting dressed?”
“Bed, now! ” Diana took Anne’s arm, forcing her back on the hospital bed. She even snatched Anne’s speech, stowing it in her back pocket.
“If I had a nickel…” Anne said.
Diana didn’t seem as amused. “Anne Shirley Cuthbert, I hope you know that your health is more important than this meeting.” Of course Anne knew that. She just simply cared about the meeting more than her health; there was a huge difference.
“But if I don’t go, then Gilbert will give the speech, my speech, and it won’t be the same. Please Di, you have to understand.”
Diana seemed to soften from Anne’s words, but ultimately decided to do her job and put Anne under lock and key.
anne <3
you have to free me
cole >:)
from what ?
anne <3
the evil hospital and lovely diana
cole >:)
i don’t think i can legally do that
anne <3
ugh then why are we even friends??
Anne began to pace the room, unsure of how she could leave without notifying any nurses. She started with putting on her pants correctly this time, then slowly gathering her things, as if one misstep would alert Diana immediately.
But no alarms rang, no nurses burst into Anne’s room, ready to put her back in bed again. With a grin that Marilla would chastise her for, Anne crept out of the room, sneaking some extra doses of medicine along the way.
She left the hospital, just another regular guest visiting. Everything was going to plan. Until the cab driver asked Anne ‘where to’ and she couldn’t remember a thing.
“Gilbert Blythe! There you are!” Anne said, stumbling towards Gilbert. He caught her by the arms, stopping her from swaying. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were pulled down in a frown. Anne realized she was staring at his mouth and shook her head before any thoughts could form.
“Anne, you’re incredibly warm right now, are you okay?”
It took her a moment to answer, realizing that Gilbert’s hands were still on her arms. “Uh, yeah, I’m perfectly fine. You wouldn’t happen to have any cash for the cab I took, would you?”
Gilbert chuckled, and Anne could have listened to his laugh all day. He pulled away from her, fishing his wallet out of his pocket. “How much?”
Anne was so touched that she completely forgot how much she owed the cab driver. “I’m not sure. I looked at the meter and it was in Egyptian hieroglyphics.” Gilbert laughed, his whole body shaking. Anne had no choice but to join him, grateful to have so much of him.
“That poor cab driver,” Gilbert said in between laughs. That only made Anne laugh harder, so much so that her laughter turned into coughing. “Hey, hey, are you okay?” Gilbert was suddenly in her space again, and Anne’s lack of air wasn’t from her coughs anymore.
Before Anne could answer, the meeting was starting, and everyone was beginning to take their seats.
She looked at Gilbert, saw worry in his eyes. She knew she didn’t look or feel very great, but this was everything she’d been working for. It would be fine.
“It’s showtime, Blythe.”
Gilbert knew he really didn’t have to be so worried about Anne’s health. They weren’t exactly close friends, and coworkers usually didn’t drive each other to the hospital. There wasn’t any logical explanation Gilbert could give for being so worried about the girl who made his life just a little more frustrating.
Except, well, he guessed they were friends now. She made his coffee just the way he liked it, and he drove her home when she worked herself to the point of exhaustion. They texted each other regularly and passed notes in meetings. So yes, Gilbert could admit that he was friends with Anne, but not in the way she was friends with Diana or Cole. He didn’t think he’d ever get to that point, to be honest.
He watched as she swayed at the podium, clearly not prepared to speak in front of all the very important vendors. And then suddenly she was. Like a switch flipped, Anne was her old self, composed and precise and incredible.
Gilbert looked into the crowd, saw how they leaned forward, captured by Anne’s words. He had been on the receiving end of her melodious voice many times and found it unlike anything he’d ever heard before. Even when she would argue with him, her words were deliberately chosen to punch tiny holes into him. Though she had gotten on his nerves a lot when they first met, Gilbert couldn’t deny that every interaction with her was thrilling.
“The time is now. The place is Avonlea. Together, we can build something incredible, something that will live on in our history for years to come,” Anne concluded. The small conference room burst into applause, and Gilbert couldn’t help but join in.
As the applause died down, a vendor near the back rose and asked a question.
“That is a great question sir, and I’ll ask you this: why is half of your face all swirly?” Anne said.
“Okay!” Gilbert said, shooting out of his seat. “I’m afraid that’s all the time Miss Shirley has, but if you have any questions, just direct them to Jerry Baynard.” Gilbert grabbed Anne’s arms, ignoring the glare Jerry threw his way.
They made their way out of the conference room, Anne leaning almost all of her weight on Gilbert. He could feel the heat radiating off her, but strangely, he didn’t want to pull away. He liked the weight of Anne on his arm and her warmth soaking through his shirtsleeve.
By the time they were in the cab on the way to the hospital, Anne was fast asleep, head resting on Gilbert’s shoulder. He couldn’t help but stare at her, amazed that she pulled it off.
She was Anne Shirley Cuthbert; of course she pulled it off.
Gilbert knocked on the open hospital room door. Anne looked up from her book, eyes lighting up as they landed on Gilbert. He wasn’t surprised that she looked radiant even in a hospital gown.
“Raspberry scones courtesy of Marilla, and potato soup courtesy of me,” Gilbert said. “Well, technically courtesy of Mary, but I helped.” That made Anne laugh, causing Gilbert’s heart to do a small relay race in his chest.
Weird… He usually didn’t have such a strong reaction to Anne’s laugh.
“Thank you, Gil. And thank you for taking me back here last night. I’m feeling a lot better.”
“Wow, actually resting makes you feel better? I had absolutely no idea.”
Gilbert set the food on the bed and pulled up a chair. Josie had given him all of Anne’s paperwork, which was a lot , and told him to go over every small detail with Anne.
“She’ll bug me to tell her when she gets back, and you like her a lot more than I do.” It had made Gilbert blush. Thankfully, Josie didn’t comment on it, but Gilbert didn’t want to unpack what it meant all the same.
“Shut up, I have an entire festival to plan. I can’t worry about my health when I’m also worrying about my job,” Anne said, taking all of her binders from him.
“Then let me worry about some things.” Anne froze, and Gilbert realized too late how that sounded. They held each other’s gazes for a moment longer before Anne looked away, quickly moving on to what she missed in the office.
The rest of the afternoon went by without any incidents, but Gilbert couldn’t help but think of that small moment for the remainder of the day.
Even worse, he couldn’t help but think of Anne for the rest of the week. He kept thinking of her bright eyes, her millions of freckles, the way she scrunched her nose when she didn’t understand something. All the small details and quirks that he used to find annoying but now found endearing kept him up at night.
It was when he saw Councilman Gardner flirting with Anne the next day that everything slotted into place.
Oh.
Jealousy was bubbling in the pit of his stomach because he liked Anne. He couldn’t think straight or sleep very well because he liked Anne. He considered staying in Avonlea well after the Harvest Festival because he liked Anne .
Oh no.