Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Can you remember, the night that I told you that I loved you?”

“Like I would ever forget that……that night is seared into my soul”.

“Can you remember how we kissed that night…… all night long”.

“God yes……. I thought I was in heaven, one minute I was doing the washing up the next minute you were kissing me……your lips……. I had dreamt of kissing you for years……we just lay in your bed together all-night kissing…….I didn’t want to fall asleep……… All of my dreams were coming true and I was afraid that if I fell asleep, I would only wake up to find it had all been a dream.”.

“Yeah, I know……”

“That first kiss…...wow…….I’ll never forget that feeling when you leaned up to kiss me…..I almost didn’t respond, I was so shocked that after dreaming about it for 15 years it was finally happening….and when it did ……my God…….it was better than I had ever imagined it, and I had imagined it a lot…….and your hands in my hair…Jesus Do you know what you do to me?”.

“There was that time in my flat though, when you kissed me by accident….... you remember?”

“I remember every single time I was in about 6 feet of you…….”

“At that point in my life that was the best kiss I had ever had……. that’s why I couldn’t sleep that night……why I came to you, I couldn’t stop thinking about how soft and warm your lips were……. how well we fitted together……. I just needed to be close to you”.

“You should have just come in and had your naughty way with me……..I would have been totally up for that…..that’s what I was lying there thinking about……. I was so pleased when you came and got into bed with me……. I don’t know how I managed to keep my hands off you……”

“You didn’t……you always had your arms round me, and our legs were always tangled up together every time we woke up”.

“And you always had your cold feet on me…….and you used to run your hands over my abs……God, you drove me mad. I just wanted to turn over and kiss you”.

“Your skin is so soft; I can’t help but touch you……”

“You can touch me all you want now”.

“Uhm yes I can……...Can you put your glasses on please?”

“What is it with you and my glasses? ……Hang on……. I’ll get them…….is that better?

“Yeah……do you know what you do to me when you are wearing those?”

“Do you have a glasses kink Miss Shirley?”

“Possibly……But I definitely have a Gilbert Blythe kink”.

“Well I have an Anne Shirley kink…….and I’ve had it much longer than you so …….neh!”

“It’s not a competition……not in this case anyway……. I think you have a red hair kink Dr Blythe”

“Only Anne Shirley red hair……. it’s only ever been you”.

“Not Becca Anderson then?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!.......NO! Not Becca Frickin Anderson”.

“I know, I’m just winding you up……looks like it worked……. Do you remember that argument we had over her……...I really enjoyed that, I was aching for a row with you that morning…….”

“I was aching for you…...every morning”

“Gilbert Blythe!”

“Well, it’s a fact……. a hard fact”.

“Don’t you start……that’s how we got in this mess in the first place”.

“Mess? What mess?

“Gilbert…….do you know what day it is today?”

“Err……...Tuesday?”

“You know what I mean!”

“The last night of our holiday?”

“It’s a year to the day that I discovered I was pregnant with Joy”.

“Yeah……I did know that……That was the night that I told you that I loved you”.

“Yeah……the night I made the worst mistake of my life……by not telling you I was pregnant and pushing you away”.

“Anne……”

“Today is also two weeks to the day that we got engaged…….and Diana looked after Joy all night for us……”

“Yeah, I will never forget that night either. The music, the stars, the lanterns……you agreeing to be my wife…… then when we came back to the room alone…… Wow, that was a great night……. another anniversary of sorts……We did get carried away rather, didn’t we?”.

“Gil?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve got something to tell you…….”

Chapter Text

“Gilbert…….do you know what day it is today?” She looked up at him as he was leaning over her, from her position on the bed and twirled her favourite curl of his around her finger.

“Err…...Tuesday?” he lent down and kissed her again softly on her lips, he would never tire of kissing her, ‘his fiancée’. He thrilled silently to himself every time he thought of those two words ‘his’ and ‘fiancée’. How he had dreaded seeing ‘that picture’ of a diamond ring on her finger when she was dating Roy Fucking Gardner. And now she wore his ring, unable to stop himself he lent down again and kissed her. She was ‘his fiancée’. ‘No’, he would never get bored with those two words.

“You know what I mean!” she rolled her eyes and smiled at him, her hand still in his hair.

“The last night of our holiday?” he sighed contentedly as he kissed along her jaw and down her neck and started to work his way along her collar bone.

She ran both of her hands through his hair and gently brought his face up to meet her gaze, his pupils were blown and he gazed lovingly at her.

“It’s a year to the day that I discovered I was pregnant with Joy”.

“Yeah……I did know that……That was the night that I told you that I loved you”. He swallowed thickly and glanced down at her lips.

“Yeah……the night I made the worst mistake of my life……by not telling you I was pregnant and pushing you away”.

He looked back up and met her gaze

“Anne……” he whispered pushing a stray lock of red shiny hair behind her ear and shaking his head gently, indicating that they didn’t need to have that discussion again, that he had moved on from that mistake, that he had utterly forgiven her.

“Today is also two weeks to the day that we got engaged…….and Diana looked after Joy all night for us……” Her eyes twinkled and she smiled shyly at him. God she was beautiful, just utterly radiant, she just seemed to be glowing.

“Yeah, I will never forget that night either. The music, the stars, the lanterns……you agreeing to be my wife…… then when we came back to the room alone……Wow. That was a great night……. another anniversary of sorts……. We did get carried away rather, didn’t we?”. He looked over the top of his glasses at her and cocked a cheeky eyebrow at her, kissing her again, working his way back down her neck.

“Gil?” She breathed, enjoying his kisses.

“Yeah?” he sighed between kissing her.

“I’ve got something to tell you…….”

His lips just happened to be on her pulse point on her neck as she said those last words to him. He was a doctor at the end of the day, and as he softly kissed her there, he felt her pulse start to increase, her heart was hammering away.

He stopped kissing her and looked back up into her eyes, sensing from her tone and the way that her heart was racing and her eyes were twinkling at him that she was about to tell him something very important.

He held his breath as a tear slipped down her cheek.

“I’m pregnant Gil”.

She would never forget the look on her fiancé’s face as he squealed with glee and embraced her, he ripped his glasses off and just threw them on the floor so that he could bury his face in the crook of her neck.

She giggled as she embraced him back.

“Oh my God, oh, my God, oh my God” he laughed, pulling his face back to kiss her passionately “Oh my God……I love you so much” Tears were pouring down his cheeks. “Really?”

“Really” she confirmed with a huge smile and a nod. “I did a test earlier this evening”.

He properly burst into tears again and hugged her. He leapt off the bed and picked her up bridal style and waltzed around the room with her in his arms as she laughed and cried at the same time.

He peppered her face with kisses and setting her feet down on the floor he cupped her face in both of his hands.

“I’m going to get to watch you grow this time, I can be there every step of the journey……oh my God, I’m so excited” He gasped breathlessly as he span her around in a circle again.

“Careful Gil, I’ve been feeling a bit nauseous today” she laughed softly. He immediately stopped twirling her around and dropped to his knees where he gently lifted her blouse and placed a reverent kiss on her stomach.

“Hello little one……I’m your Daddy……I’m going to look after you and Mummy until you are ready to come out and meet me and your big sister” he whispered into Anne’s belly, goose bumps spreading pleasurably over her body as his stubbly chin grazed the soft skin on her stomach where he kissed her so softly. He was always so tender with her and treated her like she was his goddess. Every kiss, so passionate and loving, coming straight from his heart.

She ran her hands through his hair as he continued to kiss her stomach and whisper sweet nothings to his child growing within her. She was so lucky, he was the most wonderful man. He loved her and she knew that she would love him until her dying breath. She closed her eyes as tears flooded down her face, she took a great shuddering sob, and placed her hand across her mouth to try and stifle another.

Gilbert looked up at her with worried eyes and stood up and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face into his warm chest.

“Anne, no tears” he gently held her face in both of his hands and raised her face to look up at him. He smiled at her; he couldn’t help it. He lowered his lips and kissed her tears away. “Only happy tears, remember, no recriminations…...just love, ok?”

“But you missed out on so much with Joy……that was all my fault…...I was awful to you”.

“It was as much my fault; I should have told you how I felt……that I was irrevocably in love with you……I had like a million chances over a 15-year period and I chickened out every time”.

“And when you did, I told you to F off” She hid her face in her hands.

“Anne please, I am so happy about the baby……shit we are gonna have two babies” he laughed and ran his hands through his hair and then took her hands in his and kissed them. He led her back to the bed and sat down with her still grinning at her like an idiot, she couldn’t help but smile too, his happiness was infectious.

“You are going to have to be careful……I’m going to want to monitor you closely……. after what happened with Joys delivery. I hope you realise I’m going to be unbearable” he smiled at her. “That is if you choose for me to be your doctor?......you don’t have to if you don’t want too”.

“Of course I do Gil…..Joy and I possibly wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you".

He cupped her face in his hands again and raised both of his eyebrows at her “We are meant to be together Anne……. I have never felt that stronger than I do now……we are destined to be together, in any universe and at any time……we will always find each other……no matter how rocky or broken the road may be…...I am yours always” he kissed her softly and seductively on her lips, she chased after his as he pulled slightly away. “We are potent together……. Do you realise that every time we have unprotected sex, I get you pregnant……that’s got to be the universe telling us something” he chuckled slightly and kissed her again “Are you ready to be pregnant for the next ten years?” he said against her lips and he felt her smile. He ran his hands through her hair that fell around her shoulders in long, loose waves.

“I don’t know about that……. But perhaps those seven children that you dreamed about will be our reality one day” she smiled at him as he gently caressed her stomach with his fingers.

“I am a persistent dreamer” He smiled up at her “And that dream was always you……. Anne, you have always been in my dreams, they all began and ended with you, you have made me so happy” he leaned forward and kissed her passionately, he hummed in pleasure, his lips vibrating against hers as she pulled him closer. She felt like she could never get him close enough to her, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him nearer, her hands roamed through his hair, which was already a complete mess.

“You know what this means……. now that you are pregnant, we don’t have to bother with birth control anymore……it’s not like I can get you anymore pregnant now, is it?” he gasped between passionate kisses.

“You tell me……Doctor” She sighed suggestively, raising her eyebrow at him.

“I’d rather do a practical demonstration, you know I am a man of science and I am pretty good with my hands......if that is ok with you Miss Shirley soon to be Mrs Blythe” he breathed as he pressed her backwards on the bed and kissed her passionately as he lay on top of her, her hands went to his waist and began to pull his shirt over his head just as Joy let out a loud cry from her cot across the room from them.

They stopped kissing and both turned their heads towards the cot and looked at their daughter as she wiggled her legs in the air. They turned their faces back to each other and he kissed her gently on the end of her nose.

“Later Shirley” he chuckled and crawled off her. ”Like I said before…...nature’s most effective birth control” he laughed as he walked over to Joys cot and lifted her out kissing her soft curls as he did so. “Hello my little Baba” he said cradling his daughter in his arms as he went to sit on the bed, next to where Anne lay. He placed Joy between them as they both lay on their sides facing each other with their heads propped up on their hands. Gilbert placed his little finger in Joys grasp and she gave him a gummy smile as she gazed up at her father, a little twinkle in her eyes.

“She’s so like you Gil……she’s even got that little twinkle in her eyes……God help the boys in fifteen years’ time” Anne laughed.

“15? More like 25 Carrots! And any boys are going to have to get past me first!” he said protectively.

“And how old were you when you had your first kiss Dr Blythe?” Anne asked him airily, knowing it was a lot younger than 15.

“Err…...I was about 12, with Julia Bell” he gulped.

“What your proper first kiss? Not spin the bottle or kiss chase?”

He nodded and blushed a little “Yes, a proper kiss”.

“You little horny git you! And she’s two years older than you!” Anne laughed softly.

“It was only a kiss!” he flustered.

She laughed at him, enjoying teasing him.

“And who was your first kiss?”

“Billy Flippin Andrews”.

“Shit! Billy! Billy was your first?” he gulped, suddenly feeling very jealous.

“Yeah, that night at your 80’s Christmas party”.

“Yeah, I know……I saw it….... remember how I ignored you that night when you asked me to dance? Well, I walked out onto the porch to apologize for being a prat and I walked into him kissing you out there”.

“You saw that? ……Gil, I’m sorry”.

“It’s ok…….I kind of made a bigger mistake myself that night”. He blushed and Anne reached over and cradled his face in her hand and stroked his cheek with her thumb. He looked back up at her, his eyes big and beautiful, “I wanted it to be you……. I wanted my first time to be with you Anne, I will always regret that it wasn’t".

“I’m sorry Gil……I was such a blind little fool. I wish you had been my first too……. certainly not Dickhead Danny” She rolled her eyes at herself and sighed, “But you will definitely be my last though, if that is any comfort to you” she smiled at him.

“And you will be mine” they leaned over Joy and kissed each other softly and lovingly.

“The first time we had together was pretty spectacular though……...that night of the bonfire, I had never felt anything like it before……. you’re amazing Gil ……when I look back now, even then when I couldn’t see the wood for the trees, you made me feel so loved and cherished……” he leaned over and kissed her again “…….and to think that time was when we conceived our daughter together” she blushed and kissed him. “Just to think we could have been doing that for the last 10 years".

He reached over to her and put a gentle hand on her stomach, and stroked her with his thumb “ I will remember our first time together forever. You blew my mind Anne; I knew there and then that I was ruined……that there could never be anybody else after you”. He shook his head gently, almost in a state of disbelief and he smiled at her softly, his eyes as warm as honey. “I can’t believe we have a daughter and another one on the way, if you had said that to me on this night last year, I would never have believed you”.

She reached behind her and opened the drawer to her nightstand and fished out three positive pregnancy tests and waved them in front of his face.

“Oh, I do believe you……we must have conceived this baby on the same night as Joy only a year later?”

“Do you think there is a chance that this one will be born on Joy’s birthday?” she chuckled.

“There is a possibility but it’s pretty slim…..babies come when they want……not when pregnancy calculators tell them".

Joy let out another soft cry and rooted her head towards Anne, obviously wanting some milk.

“Ooo let me” Gilbert said jumping up and grabbing a bottle of expressed milk from the mini fridge and popping it in the bottle warmer. “I’ll get her changed whilst that warms up” he said lifting Joy up and placing her on the changing mat “You go have a bath if you want”.

Anne lay on the bed and happily watched him as he started to undress Joy so that he could change her nappy and put her babygrow on. He tickled her toes and pulled faces at her, she reached out for her father and giggled. He lowered his face so that she could grab handfuls of his hair, and he blew a fat raspberry on her little tummy, eliciting real belly laughs out of the little girl. Anne sat up and sat crossed legged on the bed and thanked the lord for the millionth time that he loved her back, he was a wonderful father.

“I love you Gilbert Blythe, with every fibre of my being” she announced suddenly.

He looked over at her amused slightly. He smiled at her, a real genuine happy smile, his eyes twinkling and his dimples dimpling.

“I love you too Carrots”.

He picked Joy up and cradled her in his arms as he tested the temperature of the milk before settling down on the bed next to Anne and fed his daughter. Their matching hazel eyes locked in a loving gaze as she looked up at her father and sucked on the milk he was offering her. Her little hands ghosting over his that held the bottle.

Anne stroked her daughter’s soft skin on her cheeks with her pinkie finger as Joy enjoyed her milk. She was such a Daddy’s girl; she could barely take her eyes off him when he was around, and she always reached her little chubby arms out for him and gave him a big gummy smile as soon as he came through the door from work.

Right on cue, as if she could read her mother’s mind, Joy grinned at her father as she fed and a little bit of milk escaped from the corner of her mouth and dribbled down her chin. Which Anne wiped away with a muslin cloth.

“Perhaps this one will be a boy and I might get a look in with him” she laughed glancing down at her stomach. “With Joy I was certain straight away that she was a girl…….l’m not so sure about this one though……”

“Well. I don’t care if they are a boy or a girl. They are ours, made out of 100% pure love”. He leaned over and kissed her. “I just want them to have red hair, like their glorious…….beautiful……bewitching……. intelligent mother” He punctuated each word with a soft kiss, that left her wanting more, her eyes closed and her lips parted, chasing after his lips. She looked up at him as he leant away from her, a slight smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes as he sat back against the headboard with Joy still in his arms.

“You are still an effing tease you know”.

“You wouldn’t have me any other way” he said cockily, arching an eyebrow at her and then glancing back down at Joy.

“I’ve had you just about every way there is…...although I can think of one or two more ways, if you would like to try them.” She breathed suggestively and looked up at him through her lashes and trailed her finger up his thigh.

Gilbert looked back at her, he gulped thickly and his pupils dilated making his eyes dark.

“Anne…..” he blushed.

She rolled onto her back and started laughing at her flustered fiancé, “See”, she said “I can do it too, I can be a tease…...” she jumped of the bed and kissed his cheek, stripped off her clothes and strutted naked into the bathroom.

“Later Blythe” she whispered seductively over her shoulder at him as she headed for the bathroom.

Xx

20 minutes later though, she emerged from the bathroom to find her future husband fast asleep on the bed with Joy sleeping on his chest. She sat down quietly next to them and reached out her hand and twirled her favourite curl of his around her finger, feeling how soft and shiny it was. She shifted slightly so that she was sitting cross legged on the bed facing him so that she could just shamelessly watch him sleep. She had shared a bed with him countless times, even before they had gotten together, his deep regular breathing relaxing her. How she had gone for so many years without realising that all of those feelings that he provoked in her were anything other than undying love, she will never know. She even missed him when he went to work now. She shook her head at her own stupidity and smiled softly to herself as she thought of their future together. She couldn’t believe that he was hers, she was so lucky that he loved her, plain old Anne Shirley, soon to be Anne Blythe. She silently thrilled to herself and a huge grin spread across her face. She couldn’t wait to marry him, to have more of his children, to love him, to debate and argue about things with him, to spend the rest of her life making love to him, only him and nobody else. A huge wave of love for him crashed over her and brought a happy tear to her eyes. How did she deserve this? To be so happy, and all because of him. He gave her everything that she ever needed. Yes, having a great career that she had forged for herself was very rewarding, but having him to come home to and to share in it with, was undeniably better in every way. She slipped off the bed and tried to move his hands that were holding Joy to his chest. His head turned on the pillow and his arms encircled his daughter protectively, sensing somebody was trying to take her away from him. “No, no…...my Joy…...she’s just a baby!” he mumbled in his sleep.

Anne smiled “Sokay Gil…...it’s only me”. He relaxed at the sound of her voice but still did not release Joy.

“Gil. Let me put her to bed” Anne chuckled softly, smiling at his protectiveness of his daughter, even when he was asleep. She tried to pull his hands away again, using a little more force. His eyes suddenly flew open and he looked at her momentarily terrified, before looking relieved that it was only her. He released Joy and Anne picked her sleeping baby up of his chest and cradled her as she walked over to her cot in the corner of the room. “Come on sweet girl, let me put you to bed” she whispered softly, she smiled and glanced back over her shoulder at Gilbert who was tiredly rubbing his face on the bed.

“Silly Daddy” she chucked to Joy as she placed the little girl in her bed.

“I was dreaming that she was all of a sudden grown up and I had missed her entire childhood…...I dreamt that she was getting married and that was the day you told me she was mine…...” He leant back on the bed and covered his face with his hands.

Anne slipped back onto the bed next to him and gently pulled his hands away from his face, to see his lips pressed together and downward facing, and tears streaking down his cheeks.

“Sorry” he squeaked “I’m being ridiculous".

“No, you are not” she comforted him by stroking his tears away and them kissing him softly. “I’m sorry for what I put you through Gil……I will never forgive myself for not telling you sooner about Joy……you are the most amazing father……how I ever thought otherwise I will never know; I was such a fool”.

“Anne, I have forgiven you, 100 times over……it just sometimes my brain messes with me and I have these dreams…...I guess I still feel a little insecure".

Anne smiled at him and kissed his tears away, “Gilbert John Blythe, I have loved you from the moment I met you…...I am aware that it may not have seemed like that at the time, but as I look back, I now know that it was always you. My silly ideals, overly romanticised book hero’s, princes who turned into frogs, may have gotten in the way, but I was nowhere near as indifferent to you as I desperately tried to appear to be.” She tenderly stroked his face with her thumb “I was always aware of when you walked into the room or where you were, in relation to me, and when you were distracted with those blessed geometry problems, I would just sit and shamelessly stare at you….” She chuckled and blushed.

“I used to catch you staring at me sometimes, or rather glaring” he smiled at her.

“Oh, I was staring alright, I just tried to make it look like I was glaring when you caught me” she chuckled.

“God, we were both such idiots, how did our friends put up with us for so long, we must have driven them mad”.

They both paused for a moment and they just looked lovingly at each other.

“Perhaps you should go back to your therapist Gil, if these thoughts are still upsetting you” she pressed her lips together and tried to control her emotions. The thought that she had messed with his head so much that he needed to be in therapy nearly killed her.

“Anne, it’s the nearly dying that nearly killed me, not you…...I know what you are thinking".

She gave him a tight smile and glanced down at the comforter on the bed. “You are just trying to be kind Gil…...I know I have been a part of it”.

“Anne it was the hallucinations that have traumatised me……admittedly they were about you, but they were not real…...they were a twisted part of the fever. Please stop blaming yourself”. He leant up and threaded his hand through her hair at the base of her neck and kissed her, he suddenly rolled her over and she let out a gasp as he was suddenly lying on top of her. Her hands went into his hair and she held his head in place as he kissed her deeply, she moaned into his mouth and she felt him smile against her lips. He pressed himself harder into her body and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“I can assure you that I have a lot more good dreams about you than I do bad ones” he gasped between passionate kisses. She writhed under his weight, enjoying having him in her arms.

“Perhaps you should tell me about those dreams instead then” she responded breathlessly, not wanting to stop kissing him even to speak.

“I’m not just going to tell you; I’m going to show you”. He returned his lips to hers and kissed her deeply.

“Bathroom?”

“Bathroom” He confirmed, and wrapped his arms around her waist and back as he lay between her legs and suddenly knelt up bringing her with him. She stopped kissing him only just long enough to giggle at his antics, before returning her lips to his. Her hands were in his hair and she ran them through his curls. He managed to step off the bed still holding her with her legs wrapped around his waist as he lifted her off the bed and walked towards the bathroom. He deposited her on the vanity unit inside the bathroom and turned and partially closed the door, just enough so that they could still hear Joy cry if she woke up.

He turned back to her, God he was fucking sexy, lips all swollen, eyes glazed with lust and his hair a mess, she thrilled to herself knowing that she was the only one who got to see him like this.

“Ready Miss Shirley?” He practically growled.

“Ready Dr Blythe” she said coyly, smiling at him and batting her eyelashes, he practically flew into her arms and she wrapped her legs around him again and pressed her body as hard as she could into his and kissed him like she never wanted to stop.

She removed one of her hands from his hair and felt around behind her, until she felt his spare pair of glasses where he kept them on the sink. Pulling her face away from his kisses, she placed the glasses on the end of her nose and looked over the top of them at him as she parted her lips and licked them. “So, tell me Dr Blythe, what do you dream about?”

“Oh, I have some very naughty dreams about you” he breathed into her ear, sending goose bumps down her flesh.

She laughed “Oh really, perhaps it’s time to show me then…… You have always been rather naughty".

“Keep those glasses on and I’ll show you just how fucking naughty I am…...”

Chapter Text

Gilbert awoke the following morning to the sound of Anne being sick in the bathroom. He rolled out of bed and rushed to her side.

“Are you ok?” he soothed, gently rubbing her back and holding her hair for her as she wretched again.

“Yeah” she gulped, gasping for air between bouts of sickness. “I was really sick with Joy too, right up until she was born”.

He lent forward and gently kissed the top of her head “I’m sorry, I kind of feel responsible”. She reached across her body with her right hand and held his left one that was resting on her left shoulder, and gently squeezed it.

“It’s ok” she sighed sitting back on her heals and wiping her mouth with some tissue.

“It’s hCG, a hormone that becomes present when a woman is pregnant. Since the body is not accustomed to this hormone being present, it is most likely that that triggers morning sickness during the early stages of pregnancy. hCG is the hormone that is measured in your urine by the pregnancy test. So, it’s probable that you have a high level of it in your blood, which is making you sick”.

She looked up at him and smiled “Thank you Dr Blythe, that’s very informative, but it doesn’t make me feel any better” she lurched forward and was sick again.

“Is that why you were sick, that night…..just after I told you that I loved you?”

“Yeah”.

He was quiet for a few seconds, his eyes cast down to the floor. He looked up at her and tears were rimming his eyes, “I thought you had shoved me off you and been sick, because you were repulsed by my confession of love” he swallowed thickly.

“No…..no……God no, I suddenly knew I was going to be sick, that’s why I shoved you off me……I didn’t think that you meant it either……about lov….loving me” She stammered, “ I thought it was part of the role play that we were acting out, you know…..pretending I was your wife”. She looked up at him her eyes open and honest, flitting side to side as she searched his, to see that he understood her.

He smiled shyly at her as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “Really?” he whispered.

“Yes, Really……”. She turned slightly so that she could rest her head on his lap as he sat on the side of the bath next to her. He stroked her long red hair lovingly.

“I still love you…..” he whispered to her, twirling the end of one of her locks around his finger.

She looked up at him and smiled softly at him “I still love you too……even though you keep getting me pregnant and making me sick” she grinned at up him. She knelt up and went to kiss his cheek, but he softly grabbed her face just before her lips connected with his stubbly cheek. His gaze was fixed on her lips and he turned her head so he could kiss her on her lips.

She tried to move away from him, “Gil…..I’ve just been sick” she laughed softly.

“I don’t care…..I want to kiss the mother of my two children good morning”.

“Gil!” she laughed, but he softly pulled her towards him and kissed her on the lips longingly.

She couldn’t help but respond to his kisses, bad breath or no bad breath. She circled her arms around his shoulders and he stroked his hands up and down her exposed back of her nightdress, sending shivers all over her body as they kissed passionately. She raked her hands through his hair and pulled him closer.

“God, I love you so much” he breathed against her lips, not wanting to stop. To ever stop. He could spend his whole life just kissing her. He stood up, bringing her with him and he bent down and picked her up bridal style and walked her back into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, still kissing her. Lying next to her he groped around for the sheet and covered them back over as they continued to kiss each other deeply.

“I love you too Gilbert Blythe” she gasped, only stopping for breath as he kissed her collar bone lightly. She put her cold feet on his warm legs and melted into him.

“Your feet are still flipping freezing Carrots……do you actually have any kind of circulation in them?” He asked sarcastically, as he kissed his way back up to her mouth. She wrapped her legs around his and ran her cold feet up and down his warm legs.

“I’m super-hot everywhere else though”, she said between kisses.

“You’re telling me”, he laughed, as he grazed his hand softly along her thigh, which he knew drove her mad. She responded as he knew she would by pulling him closer to her and tightening her legs around his.

“I need you Gil” she breathed. “Why did you bring me in here, we should have stayed in the bathroom”.

“Honestly……” he chuckled, pulling away from her slightly and smirking at her “……. there’s no satisfying some people”.

“Oh, you satisfy me alright……I’m just addicted to you…...I can’t get enough…...I’ve got 15 years’ worth of Gilbert Blythe to catch up on…….and I don’t plan on missing out for a second longer”. She pulled his face back to hers so that she could kiss him again.

“Joy will wake up in about 5 minutes……and you know me……I’m not one to start something I can’t finish……that would be teasing of me” he leant over her and pressed her into the bed kissing her deeply.

“Giiiiilll” she whined, just as Joy started gurgling happily in her crib across the room.

“See, I told you……the other woman in my life needs me”, he smirked at her, giving her one last lingering kiss before he rolled out of bed to get his daughter.

“I could get jealous of her if I didn’t love her so much”. Anne grinned as she propped her head up on her hand and watched her fiancé pick their daughter up out of her cot. He lifted her up so that he could kiss her little tummy and she immediately reached out for his curls, and started to pull them hard.

“Ow” Gilbert said as Anne got out of bed and extracted Joys hands from his hair, just before she tried to put his curls in her mouth and suck them.

“I’ll feed her whilst you finish the packing” Anne said settling down onto the bed and bringing Joy to her breast to feed her.

Gilbert stuck his bottom lip out and sulked, giving her his puppy dog eyes, “But I wanted to feed her…...I’ll be back at work tomorrow……and I’ll miss her…...”.

She raised her eyebrows at him.

“……and I’ll miss her beautiful mother as well of course” he smiled charmingly at her.

She shook her head softly and smiled down at Joy, who was gazing up at her mother lovingly, whilst pinching her breast with one of her little hands.

Anne moved her pinchey fingers away from her breast and chuckled to herself. “I know I have said this before, but she is so like you…...looking all innocent whilst she is up to some sort of mischief”.

Gilbert came and sat on the bed next to them and put his arm around Anne “Yes, and I’m going to teach her all of my best moves as well as soon as she is old enough” his eyes twinkled with that mischief, that she now had fallen completely and utterly head over heels in love with.

“Packing?” Anne reminded him.

“Oh, I’m packing all right” he laughed and winked at her.

She rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but smile. He was not wrong.

“The bags!” She clarified.

He laughed then turned and winked at her again as he took his pyjama pants off and threw them into the already half packed case on the floor across the room. He stood before her with his back to her as stretched his arms over his head, making his muscular back ripple. He proceeded to walk around the room completely naked whilst he packed the rest of their things into the case, whistling lightly to himself.

“What are you doing” Anne asked from the bed.

He turned and feigned a surprised look on his face. “Packing” he chirped. He bent over right in front of her to pick her bra up of the floor where she had thrown it last night and tossed it into the case.

“What? Naked?” she asked, pupils blown as she watched him walk around the room.

“Yeah. Naked” he smirked. Her eyes followed him as he what only can be described as ‘paraded’ around the room, taking every opportunity he could to show his impressive physique off to Anne as she sat watching him on the bed.

He turned and smiled at her, but she just narrowed her eyes at him. She knew what he was doing.

“Do you like to watch me Carrots?” He teased, smirking at her.

“Taking another course in how to be absolutely effing infuriating are we Dr Tease PHD!” she asked.

“Who me?” he said innocently, placing his hand on his firm chest and caressing it slightly, noticing how her eyes followed his hands light movements as he ghosted them over his abs.

“Yes you!”

“I don’t need to take lessons…...I know how to get your attention Miss Shirley…...Do you think it was by chance that I happened to whip my t shirt off every time you stayed over at mine……I saw how you used to look at me, even before we were friends…...that’s why I was so bloody confused all the time, whilst your mouth was saying one thing……your eyes were saying something entirely different”. He suddenly froze and stopped what he was doing and turned around to her. His mouth dropped open and he barked out a laugh. “Oh, my God…... That’s what you were doing that day by the lake …...wasn’t it?……The day you fell in and I had to rescue you. You were watching me……. ogling me?”

Anne blushed furiously. Why she was embarrassed she didn’t quite know.

He chuckled at her. “I can still see how your eyes swept over me as I stood there in my white boxers, that had gone rather see through, how your eyes lingered…...” he laughed.

“Gilbert!” She laughed and covered her face up with her hand that wasn’t holding Joy “Stop! I’m, embarrassed”.

“Did you like it…...did you like what you saw?”

“Gil……” she blushed again but this time met his eyes and smiled at him, “Yes……. I very much liked what I saw…...I thought about it quite a bit…...well every now and again” she maintained eye contact with him, refusing to let him win his little game. “And you can talk, you couldn’t take your eyes off me, you openly stared at my breasts and licked your lips, I seem to recall” She put her nose in the air in her trade mark challenge to him “Did you like what you saw?”

His eyes dropped to her breasts as she sat feeding Joy, who had now nodded off again.

“Hell yeah!” He said with gusto and laughed. “I was a teenage boy with a soaking wet, half-naked, Titian goddess in front of him……I thought about that moment A LOT……. especially when I was in bed alone at night”.

“Gilbert Blythe! You pervert!” she laughed.

He crawled over the bed to her and kissed Joys little curly head first and then he kissed Anne's lips. “Or rather I should say, I was a teenage boy who was desperately, hopelessly, heartbreakingly, madly in love with the soaking wet, half naked, Titian temptress goddess in front of him”. He smiled warmly at her and kissed the end of her nose. “I’ll get on with that packing then, shall I? My love”’ he said softly, getting up off the bed and winking at her.

“Yes, but please put some clothes on, unless you want to miss our flight because I can’t keep my hands off you Dr Blythe.”

He bent down again in front of her and picked his glasses up of the floor, where he had discarded them the previous night. “I think I’ll just put my glasses on, if that is ok with you?” he said politely making a show of putting them on and then looking over at Anne innocently, knowing that this was her favourite outfit. Just the glasses and nothing else.

“Gilbert Blythe……just you wait until I get you home!”.

Chapter Text

Gilbert opened the hotel room door and deposited their small mountain of luggage into the hall way, he turned around to look at Anne gently placing Joy back into her stroller by the bifold doors that opened up onto their private stretch of beach, the gossamer curtains billowing in the gentle sea breeze. He swallowed heavily, remembering the time he left this very room a year ago, and how his life had changed within that year.

He walked up behind her as she straightened up from bending over Joys stroller, and placed his arms around her waist tightly and breathed her in as he placed his chin on her shoulder, he kissed her lightly on her neck.

He was now engaged to the woman he loved. Whom he had loved for half of his life.

Lifting his left hand from her waist he ran his hand down her left arm as she sighed and lent backwards into his caress, closing her eyes. He lifted her left hand and kissed the pearl engagement ring on her finger.

“I love you Carrots……. I still can’t believe you said yes……that you are going to be my wife”.

“I love you too Gil….and I can’t wait to be your wife……kiss me…” she cupped his face with both of her hands and kissed his lips longingly. “That’s if you can stop getting me pregnant for 5 minutes so that we have a chance to walk down the aisle without me looking like a beached whale”.

“Oh, but I do enjoy it so……. getting you pregnant that is” he said lowly to her. “ I can’t wait to watch you grow this time” he pressed his forehead to hers and nudged her nose playfully with his. He gave her a teasing featherlight kiss on the lips, and his hand dropped down to her stomach and he stroked her tenderly with his thumb.

Her hands slid along his jaw and into the hair at the back of his neck as she pulled him closer and deepened their kiss and she melted into him. He hummed into her lips with pleasure which made goose bumps flash all over her body.

Eventually he slowed their passionate kiss down to a long lazy kiss and he sighed contentedly as he pulled away from her and gazed into her eyes, the colours in them swirling enchantingly.

“You have made me so happy”.

“How do you do that thing with your eyes?” Anne asked him out of the blue.

“What thing?”

“Where you make them go all swirly and beautiful?”

“I don’t know what you are on about” he smirked.

“Yes, you do……you know, where you go like this” she pulled a face with her eyes rolling around in their sockets.

He shrugged and smiled at her, his eyes sparkling and his dimples dimpling “Just part of the Gilbert Blythe charms…...I don’t know, I think it’s what you bring out in me”. He kissed the end of her nose and started to walk her backwards towards the bedroom door. He got hold of her hand with one hand and pulled Joys stroller with the other as he walked them both out into the hotel corridor. He let go of the stroller and they took one last look at their room together and then looked at each other lovingly as he gently closed the door. He put his arms around her and suddenly pressed her hard up against the hotel room door.

“Until next time Miss Shirley” he said kissing her again. He pulled back and looked at her, her cheeks pink and her lips swollen from kissing him, her eyes half open and glazed over.

“You have truly made me the happiest man on earth……maybe next time we are here you will be Mrs Dr Blythe, and we will be on our real honeymoon”.

“With a one-year-old and a baby in tow too?” she laughed.

He smiled down at her “Maybe? We will have to get our heads around that one…...but I am definitely having you all to myself on that occasion…...no interruptions.” He pressed her back against the door and kissed her again. Her hands in his hair, wrecking how he had tried to tame it, but he didn’t care he loved to just be able to kiss her whenever he wanted to and feel her hands in his hair.

They heard somebody softly clearing their throat next to them and they pulled away from each other and looked to see Hester approaching along the corridor.

“I just thought I would help you with your baggage Dr Blythe, you seem to have rather a lot".

“Call me Gilbert please Hester, and I know it doesn’t look like it but we have a lot less ‘baggage’ than we did last time we checked out” he smiled at Anne and squeezed her hand.

Xx

The weary travellers returned to a cold and snowy Toronto airport later that afternoon. The flight home for Anne had been a nightmare with lots of trips to the small airplane bathroom, as she was overcome with morning sickness time and time again. The look of concern on Gilberts face every time she returned to her seat was getting worse each time, as he cradled Joy on his knee, feeling helpless. The rest of their family and friends had returned home after the first week in Antigua, leaving Anne, Gilbert and Joy to enjoy some time alone following their engagement.

She was just returning from a trip to the Ladies room in the airport arrivals hall, scanning the crowded room for Gilberts curly head, when she spotted her fiancé wrapped in the arms of a brunette haired woman. He was holding her so close to him, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

Who the hell was she?

Anne knew most of Gilberts friendship group and most of his work colleagues. But she did not recognise this beauty, she would have remembered her.

They were still embracing by the time that Anne joined them standing next to them and cleared her throat awkwardly, her heart pounding and she felt a sharp pang of jealousy as she saw how beautiful the woman was. She had a bewitching kind of prettiness. There was a gloss of brown nuts to her satin smooth hair that was styled into loose curls that fell about her shoulders and a soft, ripe glow on her round cheeks. Her eyes as she turned them to Anne were big and brown and velvety, under playfully arched brows, and her full mouth was rose red. She wore a smart brown suit that was cut to perfection showing her slender figure off.

She made Anne feel as dull as old dishwater, in her crumpled feeding top and ripped jeans that she had spilt her tea on during the flight. The mystery woman instantly released Gilbert from her clutches and came forward with and outstretched hand and a friendly smile, there seemed not a shadow of shyness or burden about this beautiful woman.

“You’re Anne, aren’t you?” she smiled warmly and took Annes hand but pulled her straight into a hug. She released her and then looked back to Gilbert with her eyes glittering. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am to meet you”. She reached out for Gilberts hand and took his in one hand and Annes in her other, her smile radiant as she looked between them.

Anne looked confused at Gilbert, waiting for his explanation of who this woman was. His hazel eyes flitted to her and he smiled, squeezing both of the women’s hands that he held.

“Anne……this is Dr Philippa Gordon……. she is the doctor who treated me in Asia when I became ill……it was due to her quick actions that diagnosed the Typhoid……. I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”

Anne burst immediately into tears and grabbed Philippa, hugging her fiercely as she sobbed into the strangers’ shoulders. She heard Philippa laughing as she clung onto her, her body shaking.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you” she gasped through her tears.

Eventually, Philippa managed to peel Anne off her and deposited her into Gilberts arms who was also chuckling to himself and gently kissed Anne on the head as she brought her tears under control. Anne turned her eyes back to Philippa.

“Thank you, Philippa,” she squeaked again, holding onto Gilbert for dear life.

“Please call me Phil…...everyone else does……’Philippa’ sounds like my great grannie” she laughed folding her arms across her chest. “Actually……its Dr Phil Blake now……Jo and I have just got married; we have just returned from our honeymoon”.

“Wow…...congratulations!” Gilbert said “Anne, it was Phil’s fiancé Jo, who first realised I was so ill, he called Phil over that day, so he saved me too” He laughed. “I should have realised myself what it was……what kind of a doctor am I?” he rolled his eyes at himself.

“You are one of the best doctors I have ever met” Phil reassured him “And a doctor who had his mental acumen clouded with a killer disease, that’s why you didn’t realise how unwell you were rapidly becoming. You scared us all to death Gilbert…… half the staff were in tears……of course all the nurses had fallen in love with him…...” Phil smiled at Anne, “but he wouldn’t take any notice of them…. He just looked at them as though they were a kitten that needed petting…. That day that Jo raised the alarm and brought Gilbert into the camp hospital though……” she shook her head sadly, “……he was so desperately ill….... and all he did was call for you……” Phil said to Anne, the merriment slipping from her face as she recalled that awful day when she thought she thought that she was going to lose her friend and colleague. Tears formed in her pretty eyes and she petered out and forced a happy smile on to her face when she saw how Anne buried her face into Gilberts chest.

“But here we are now all well and fighting fit again……you are looking better than ever Gilbert” Phil reached forward and held Annes left hand and examined her engagement ring, she cocked her eyebrow at Gilbert “I take it you two are finally together now?”.

They looked at each other lovingly, nodding and smiling as Gilbert lent down and softly kissed Annes lips.

Phil placed her arm around Annes shoulder to comfort her “I can totally see why you were calling for this wonderful woman” her brown eyes shone with affection for the pair and then turned to the stroller that Gilbert was still holding onto. Phil gasped and placed her hand over her mouth as she looked into the stroller “Oh my goodness…...you have a daughter?” she laughed “My my she is simply beautiful, she’s the image of you both……you kept that quiet Dr Blythe!” she teased.

Anne blushed, “That’s kind of a loooong story” she smiled, proudly watching Joy smiled at Phil, who was now pulling funny faces at her.

They were suddenly interrupted by a slender blonde-haired man approaching them and calling “Blythe?......I don’t believe it!” and suddenly Gilbert was engulfed by the man’s arms. Phil, straightened up and stood watching the two men with Anne whilst they embraced and clapped each other on the back with big smiles on their faces.

“Praise the lord!......You are looking so well man!” he thumped Gilbert softly on his bicep, a massive smile on his crooked face. “I prayed hard for you my friend”.

“Anne this is Rev Jonas Blake” Phil took his arm and smiled up at him proudly “My husband…..I can’t believe I can say that now” she grinned bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet as she gazed at him. Anne and Gilbert exchanged a knowing glance, familiar with that loving feeling that they were witnessing in the newlywed couple. Jonas extended his hand to Anne and heartily shook it, “You must be Anne, I can tell by the way Blythe is looking at you” He chuckled “I heard a lot about you, mostly when he was asleep and muttering away……he would only look at ‘his Anne’ like that”.

“Jo was my roommate in Asia” Gilbert explained, “I guess I was talking in my sleep again” he blushed.

“It’s a good job, I’m used to hearing people’s confessions” Jonas laughed as Gilbert blushed and covered his face with his hands. “Don’t worry, I’m only teasing……” He winked at Gilbert. “He did call for you a lot when he was ill though”.

Anne turned to Gilbert and ran her hand through his hair “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you Gil” she said softly.

“You must have been pregnant then Anne, we wouldn’t have let you near him anyway, so don’t be too hard on yourself”. Phil comforted her. “Your immune system is compromised when you are pregnant, so we would have played it safe and would not have let you visit him".

“Where are you based now Phil?” Gilbert asked, trying to change the conversation away from his illness so Anne did not get any more distressed.

“I’m back in Bolingbrook, where I grew up, Jo has just taken over the Methodist Church there”.

“That’s where I grew up” Anne said, “Before I went to Avonlea on PEI where I met Gil when I was 13……..My Parents died in a car accident when I was 9, and they are buried there. I haven’t been back since I was taken into foster care".

“I am so sorry to hear that, Anne. Well then, I simply insist that you and Gilbert come and stay with us for the weekend soon, we can visit all of your old haunts for old times sake” Phil’s eyes looked at Anne with a softness and kindness that communicated more than her words. “We can even find your parents’ graves if you wish”.

Anne smiled at her; she had a deep feeling that this woman was a kindred spirit. “I would love that” She swallowed. The two women smiled affectionately at each other.

“I have a feeling about you Anne, I think we are destined to be great friends” she took the crook of Annes arm and slipped her hand through it “Come along my friend, I simply insist that we all have a coffee before we go our separate ways, and sort out a date for our next get together……I think Dr Blythe owes me a coffee” she smirked looking over her shoulder at him as she led Anne away towards the nearest coffee outlet, leaving the two men with a huge pile of suitcases and a stroller to push.

Chapter Text

“God, I missed you both” Gilbert said as he took his winter coat off and threw his work bag down on the floor and climbed on to the sofa, spooning Anne as she lay half asleep with Joy curled up next to her. He kissed her cheek and cuddled into her hair, breathing her in.

“We missed you too” she hummed sleepily, pulling his arms around her waist. He stroked her stomach gently.

“How are you feeling?”

“Not too bad, I have only been sick twice this morning……I’m hoping it will pass over quicker this time”.

“Are you feeling well enough to go over to Fred and Di’s tonight? I don’t mind if you want to cancel, I can cook instead……and then I get you and Joy all to myself all evening”.

“Yeah, I think I’m feeling ok and I’m excited to tell them our news, and I feel better for a nap”. She smiled softly at his sweetness, pulling him in closer, unable to get him close enough. He moved his hand up from her waist and stroked Joys little curls. Joy opened her eyes and immediately smiled seeing that her Daddy was home from work, she lifted her little arms up and reached out for him. Gilbert was unable to resist and sat up, leaning over Anne to extract his daughter and give her a cuddle.

“How was your day?” Anne asked him as she sat up with him, and pulled herself around to face him as he stretched his long legs out and cuddled Joy to his chest and lifted her up to kiss her forehead.

“Great thanks……I’m sorry I’m late…..there was just so much to catch up on after the holiday.” Gilbert picked up Joys favourite toy, a little rubber duck and squeaked it in front of her face, she gave him a big gummy smile and gurgled happily at him with a little double chin. Anne slid alongside him and rested her head on his chest as he lifted his arm up to put around her shoulder and drew her close to him and kissed the top of her head.

“I could stay like this forever”, he mumbled into her hair as Joy grinned at him. “I am so incredibly happy”.

Anne felt a few drops of warm moisture in her hair so she looked up at him “So why are you crying then?” she laughed, reaching up to wipe away his tears.

“I never thought this would happen…..that I would have a family…..be a father…..let alone to have all of this with you…..the love of my life”. He squeaked.

She leaned up and kissed him softly on his lips.

“I love you so much” she sighed “you have made me so happy too” and she kissed him again and knelt up on the couch next to him and started peppering his face with light kisses until he started laughing and his eyes twinkling as he looked up at her.

“That’s better” she laughed, standing up “I’ll just jump in the shower whilst you play with Joy…..and no, I know what you are thinking Dr Blythe”.

He pouted, and gave her his puppy dog eyes. “But I need a shower too…..it only make sense we shower together……it will save water at least, you know…….do our bit to save the planet”.

“Gilbert Blythe, you are incorrigible!” she laughed.

After they had both showered and changed, they made their way over to Fred and Diana’s place for dinner.

“Do you think they will be shocked, that we are expecting again?” Anne fretted as Gilbert unclipped Joys car seat from the back of the car and lifted it out, hauling her changing bag on to his back.

“No, I think they will be thrilled for us” he reassured her as they walked along the path towards Fred and Di’s apartment building hand in hand.

As soon as they rang the bell, Diana threw the door open and rushed out to embrace Anne excitedly, the two women kissed each other’s cheeks like they used to when they were children.

“Come in Come in……Dinner is all ready, I’m so glad you are here,” Diana said as Gilbert smiled happily at them and placed Joy down in her car seat on their couch. she unclipped Joy from her car seat and took her straight into her arms and started cooing at her.

Fred walked into the living room with his apron on and wiping his hands on a tea towel. He had a certain red glow to his cheeks as he looked at his wife affectionately cuddling Joy and talking baby talk to her. Diana looked up at him and she glowed too, and as her eyes met with her husbands, they exchanged a loving look.

Gilbert stood and looked at his friends whom he had known all of his life and knew immediately that they had some news of their own.

“Diana?......you are pregnant, aren’t you?” Gilbert guessed.

Diana’s mouth dropped open, and Annes head snapped around to stare at her bosom pal. Fred threw his head back and laughed and embraced Gilbert, clapping him on his back.

“What the f…….?” Diana stopped herself from swearing for Joy’s benefit “How the…….? How the frick did you know that?” she laughed “I knew you were a good doctor, but that takes you to another frickin level!”

Anne gasped happily “Are you Di? Are you having a baby?” she bounced up and down on her toes, doing a little happy clap with her hands.

Gilbert just smirked as Fred put his arm around his wife and they looked at each other.

“Yes” Diana confirmed softly “I’m having a baby”.

“Yeeeeessss!” Anne squealed, startling Joy and making her cry. “Oooops, sorry sweetheart” she laughed as Diana passed her to Gilbert so that the two women could embrace happily again. Tears streaking down both of their faces. Joy stopped crying as soon as she was in her father’s arms.

Gilbert shook Fred’s hand “Congratulations man, I’m so thrilled for you” he chortled happily “Our kids can grow up together……just like we did.”

“How far along are you?” Anne asked excitedly, fully aware of her and Gilberts baby news that they were yet to share.

“Only just……I only found out yesterday” Diana sighed happily, “so I will be due around our wedding anniversary…..or Joys birthday” She laughed.

Anne and Gilbert laughed and looked at each other “So in Antigua then……?” Anne asked arching a cheeky eyebrow at her best friends.

“Yes, in Antigua”. Diana confirmed and giggled as Fred went bright red. “We think on our first night there, the night before Gilbert proposed to you”.

“Jesus” Gilbert laughed, “there must be something in the water there……. I’m taking a sample next time we are there, and will use it in our fertility studies” he joked.

Anne pulled away from Diana and went to put her arm around Gilberts waist and looked up at him, his eyes were dancing with merriment as he looked back down at her.

“Shit…..you are too aren’t you?” Diana gasped and laughed out loud.

Anne nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek as Diana grabbed her and hugged her again, both of them now sobbing “How far along are you?”

“About the same as you, we think it was the night that we got engaged…...when you looked after Joy for us all night……we kind of got carried away” Anne blushed and Gilbert smirked.

“We are going to be pregnant together” Diana laughed. “This is sooooo exciting”.

“You are one brave man” Fred said shaking Gilberts hand again. “Two kids under one, blimey!” he laughed and Gilbert rolled his eyes.

“It’s good job I’m used to functioning on next to no sleep”.

They all laughed and joked as Fred brought the food to the table and they sat around the dining table chatting about the future as new parents.

“Gilbert, I can’t believe you guessed? How did you know?” Fred asked.

Gilbert just shrugged “I’ve known you both all of my life, I could just tell by the way that you looked at each other……the glow on Di’s cheeks” he looked tenderly at his old friend and smiled affectionately at her. “I told you, you would make a good mother one day, when you were looking after me in the hospital”.

“And I seem to remember saying the same back at you” Diana laughed softly, “You were having none of it though, you big hairy lump…...and here you are less than a year later with a three month old and another one on the way. People really should listen to me more you know; I am very insightful…...and it is wasted on you lot”. She took a sip of her water.

They all laughed happily, knowing she was right, that she had called it about Anne and Gilbert years before anybody else.

Gilbert shook his head and smiled “I’m so happy for you guys, I don’t think I would have gotten through the last year without your support, your visits to the hospital and afterwards helping with my recuperation.” He squeezed Anne's hand in a silent sign of comfort, knowing that she sometimes got upset when he talked about his illness. “I will always be so thankful for that”.

“Don’t be silly” Diana smiled at him “And besides, it was actually Anne that helped you more than I think you know. I didn’t tell you at the time because you didn’t want to hear it……but Anne facetimed every single time I visited you in hospital. She talked to you, I used to prop my phone up on the drip rack and she would chat to you, and every time you heard her voice it calmed you…… and I think that was a turning point in your recovery……..she actually told you she loved you for the first time……” Diana eyes welled up with tears as she remembered it “……..and you squeezed my hand” Fred put a comforting arm around his wife as Gilbert looked at Anne, who had tears running down her face and was biting her lip as she tried to control her emotions. “You had obviously heard her……”

He turned to Anne, “You told me you loved me?” he asked his eyes wide, his voice breathless.

Anne nodded mutely, not able to speak as she knew she would only sob. He cupped her face and kissed her, wiping her tears away with his thumb as he did so. She pulled away from his kiss and buried her head into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, still kissing her hair.

“She was so distraught Gilbert” Fred added “it was difficult to watch, her heart was broken, but I agree with Diana, every time you heard her voice you relaxed, and the convulsions and delusions diminished. I definitely think that although she wasn’t there, hearing her voice helped you recover.”

“She gave me something to live for”. Tears were now coursing down Gilberts face, as he lifted Annes chin up so that she was looking at him. “I love you so much” he whispered tenderly too her “I’m sorry I put you through that ordeal…….all of you……” he petered off.

Diana pulled away from Fred and smiled at Gilbert. “You could hardly help it, its typical of you though Lumpy to go and do an act of good will and end up on deaths door…...you seem to have a habit of trying to help and then making things worse……at least when it comes to Anne” She laughed.

“I can’t believe I have never asked you two this before but where does the name ‘Lumpy’ Come from?” Anne asked.

The three old friends laughed and Gilbert blushed.

“Gil?” Anne questioned laughing.

“I used to be fat” He laughed.

“What?” Anne giggled, looking at the Adonis before her.

“Only until he was about four, by the time he started Kindergarten he was more active and so had lost the excess chub.” Diana said, spooning a generous helping of trifle into her mouth.

“Being an only child, my Mum used to carry me around everywhere…… apparently I didn’t walk until I was about 18 months old” He laughed.

“He was still a handsome bastard though” Fred added “He just looked like a little chubby cherub”. He reached across the table and pinched Gilberts cheek and wobbled it, making him laugh.

Anne laughed and reached under Gilberts t shirt and squeezed his flank, that was hard and toned, not an inch of fat on him. “There was just more of him to love then” Anne laughed, now just ghosting her fingers over his abs gently underneath the table and Gilbert turned his dark eyes to her and gave her a smouldering look. She felt electricity bolt down her spine as they stared transfixed at each other.

“Jesus, no wonder you are constantly with child Anne” Diana laughed, blushing slightly. The chemistry between the two of them had always been sizzling, but now that they were actually together in a physical relationship, it was completely off the scale. “He can practically get you pregnant, just with his eyes”.

“It’s a good job that’s not true Di, otherwise she would have had my first child when she was about 14” Gilbert laughed without taking his eyes from Anne’s.

“Gil!” Anne exclaimed loudly laughing and shoving him lightly and playfully away from her. He chuckled and took a sip of his wine, looking down and then back up at her with his eyes swirling enchantingly as he smiled at her with a teasing smile, which took her breath away.

Chapter Text

Whilst the guys washed the dishes in the kitchen, the girls sat and relaxed with a cup of tea together in the living room.

“So……?” Diana asked, her eyebrow arched.

“Di?” Anne asked.

“So…….was I right?”

“Diana!” Anne exclaimed quietly, so the boys in the kitchen couldn’t hear her, knowing what Diana wanted to know without her having to actually say it.

“Oh come on……I’ve had to sit and watch you two have sex with your eyes for the last decade and a half! You owe me this.”

Anne rolled her eyes and blushed.

“So…...” Diana started again “What’s he like? Is it ‘the hottest sex ever’” she whispered a smirk on her face.

Anne couldn’t help a wide grin spread across her face as she looked up at her bosom friend, her eyes were sparkling with love and her checks a pretty pink.

“Oh my God Di……. he’s amazing……he’s so tender and passionate all at the same time, I feel so loved…..he always puts me first…….I never felt anything like it……it gets better every time…..he literally blows my mind” She chuckled, blushing ever deeper. “The whole world gets swept away Diana when I am lying in his arms……..We connect on a level that I didn’t think was possible……I love him so much” Her eyes filled with happy tears and she laughed softly as she wiped one away. “How I ever thought that everything I felt for him was anything other than undying love, I don’t know…….What we have is what love is supposed to be……I know that now with my whole heart. I just want to be with him all the time, I miss him when he goes to the bathroom, for heaven’s sake”.

Diana laughed, happy tears in her blue eyes, “Anne, I am so happy for you, you so utterly deserve this level of happiness”. She reached over and squeezed her hand. “After everything you have been through in the past I feel as though things are all in order now, that they are now how they should always have been”.

“I feel so different about him. When I was with Roy, I genuinely thought that I loved him, but when I look at what I felt for him compared to how I feel about Gil…..It doesn’t compare at all, I think I was always trying to force myself to love Roy……I thought he was my ideal, so I thought I should be head over heals for him. But now……”, she placed her hand on her heart “……. now I know what I felt for Roy was superficial and shallow, because what I feel for Gil……There are no walls between us, I just want to melt into him” she shook her head “He’s part of my soul Di”.

They both smiled as they heard Fred and Gilbert suddenly guffaw in the kitchen together.

“How did we get here Anne?” Di asked wistfully, placing her gentle hand on her stomach. “How did we get from that first afternoon tea when Marilla brought you around to my house that summer afternoon, to sitting on a couch in Toronto, with us expecting Fred Wright’s and Gilbert Blythe’s children.” She laughed. “How on earth did that happen?”

Anne shook her head again “If you had told me that on that first day when I slapped him one with my atlas, I would never have believed you……In fact I probably would have revoked your bosom pal friendship status” they both laughed. “Gilbert told me that Fred had ‘a thing’ for you since kindergarten”.

“I kind of always knew that, he would always blush bright red whenever I spoke to him…….in fact he still does, but now it’s when I take my bra off”. They giggled together and Diana reached out for Annes hand and they sat there holding hands like they did when they were younger.

“I think there is some kind of magic floating in the air in Avonlea” Anne sighed “I think it is the place where soulmates are made……maybe it was called Avalon centuries or millennia ago……a place of magic and myth and legend, a place where fairies and dryads danced together in the moonlight, I wonder if our stories played out in another life Diana”.

“A place of curly haired hero’s and feisty maidens”. Diana chuckled.

“Or beautiful debutants falling hopelessly in love with the bashful farm hand”.

“I’m a lucky woman Anne, that Fred gave me another chance after my fling with Jerry……I nearly lost him……” she petered off and gazed unseeingly across the room, lost in her memories.

“Tell me about it, I nearly lost Gilbert too many times….I don’t think I could live in a world without any Gilbert Blythe in it……that night when I thought he was going to die Diana…….and I would never get to tell him just how much I loved him, and that he was going to be a father……I have been through a lot Di, but that night was the worst one of my life”. She looked up at the ceiling and bit her bottom lip in an attempt to control her emotions. Diana squeezed her hand in a silent show of support.

“What is it with these Avonlea boys? Diana mused.

“Our reality turned out to be different to our silly childish dreams of melancholy heroes……you can keep your uptight Mr Darcy’s, moody Heathcliff’s and arrogant Mr Rochester’s……I’ll take my Gilbert Blythe any day”.

“In fact, you do take your Gilbert Blythe….…..everyday!” Diana laughed.

“Is that all you ever think about Diana…....sex?” Anne whispered.

“Tell me I’m not wrong then” Di challenged her.

“You are not wrong”, Anne laughed “Except it’s not just once a day……. more like two or three times a day…...if we get time” She mused softly, scandalising Diana.

“I bet you do, you foxy Minx!” Diana guffawed in a very unladylike manner.

“What are you two up to?” Gilbert said poking his head around the corner of the living room door, a damp tea towel in his hand as he dried a gravy boat.

“Nothing” Diana and Anne both chirped together at the same time, their cheeks flushed and tears of mirth running down their cheeks.

Gilbert just raised a disbelieving eyebrow up at them.

“You two are naughty when you get together” he said, eyeing them up suspiciously.

“Yes, sometimes two or three times a day……if we get time” Diana said cheekily, and Anne batted her arm.

Gilbert looked at Anne and narrowed his eyes and smirked, as the two girls fell about laughing on the couch, now not making any noise they were laughing so hard. The penny dropping in Gilberts mind, as he correctly guessed what the girls had been discussing.

Fred came around the corner, drying his hands on a tea towel and took in the scene and Gilberts face, that was covered in a bashful blush.

“What have we done my friend?” Fred said, clapping Gilbert on the back and laughing. “These two wonderful women are going to keep us on our toes for the rest of our lives”.

“I certainly hope so…..I wouldn’t have it any other way Freddy.” Gilbert laughed.

xx

The friends eventually bid goodnight to each other as Gilbert was on the verge of falling asleep again and he had an early shift at the hospital the following day. Gilbert promising to book Di in for her first Antenatal check up in a couple of weeks.

“I can’t believe Di’s pregnant too, that was so funny when you guessed, just by looking at her” she whispered to him as they snuggled into bed together after settling Joy for the night. They now slept together in what used to be Gilberts old room, Joy now sleeping in her own room next door.

“I guess I just know her so well……It just radiated from her……” he petered off as he began to kiss her shoulders and collar bone.

“I’m so excited about us having our children at the same time, I hope that they grow up together to be as close as you, Di and Fred are now, that’s something that’s really special Gil, you are so lucky that you had that

“We can have it too now, with our own family” he said between kisses and she sighed in pleasure to feel his warm lips on her cool skin.

“Do you think they will have the same experience in the city as you guys did growing up in Avonlea?” she asked and his head came up to meet her gaze.

“Are you suggesting what I think you are?” He smiled at her.

“You are on fire tonight” she said playfully and then chuckled. “I don’t know what to think ……ever since I found out I was pregnant with Joy; I began dreaming of raising her in Avonlea. Don’t get me wrong, I love our life here in Toronto and I would never dream of taking you away from the hospital and your career……but I think a part of me will always want to return to our island Gil”.

“I want that too Carrots, the Island will always be my home, but there will be no diamond sunsets or marble halls in Avonlea”.

“I don’t want diamond sunsets or marble halls……I just want you”.

He leant down and kissed her passionately, and she ran her hands through his hair and pulled him as close to her as she could get him, moaning softly against his lips.

“God, I love you……. I love holding you……. making love to you……kissing you, God I could die just kissing you……. you would be scandalised if you knew just how much I had fantasised about it” he rambled as he kissed her.

“Then tell me……. how and when…... did you fantasise about kissing me? She asked, his kisses making her breathless.

“All the goddamn time Carrots…...you drove me nuts” he kissed her deeply again and then suddenly pulled away, leaving her to desperately chase after his lips. He smirked down at her.

“Remember when we went paint balling, and you straddled me in the snow?”

“Yeah” she breathed, her pupils completely blown as she gazed up at the man she loved.

“Well then, I just wanted to reach up and kiss you, to warm you frozen cheeks and lips with my warm ones……”

She tried to pull his face back down to hers, but he resisted her.

“……..its a good job I was lying in a pile of snow, because man…..I was so hot for you……” He raised his eyebrow at her and gave her the lightest of kisses, barely brushing her lips with his. “I could see that you were even more beautiful close up, I could see all of the different shades of green in your eyes and how long your beautiful coppery lashes were.…….I had to lie there for about 10 minutes waiting for my body to calm down, so I didn’t embarrass myself when I stood up”.

“Jesus Gil……how was I so blind?” she wrapped her legs around his. “ I can remember staring at your lips that day, they were so perfect and pink……I can remember thinking that they made me feel angry with you”.

“Angry?” he said perplexed “How can my lips make you angry?” He licked his lips as she gazed at them.

“Well, it was normally what was coming out of them that used to really piss me off” she smiled up at him through her lashes and parting her lips, playing him at his own game as he looked down at her mouth and gulped.” But that day it was different…….I felt irritated that they were so perfect……so enticing…….and I knew that they would never kiss me……or want me…….”. She loosened her grip on him and looked away, unable to maintain eye contact with him.

He placed a gentle finger on her cheek and turned her face back to him, so that he could look in her eyes. His gaze was intense and unwavering, he smiled softly at her, “You couldn’t have been more wrong Miss Shirley…….I have thought about that moment every day since…..how much I wanted to kiss you……how much I wanted to run my hand through your beautiful hair” He released her cheek and transferring his weight onto one elbow, he ran his hand through her hair, his eyes following his fingers journey. He leaned forward and kissed her deeply. “I will always want to kiss you until my dying breath……in fact that’s what I want to be doing with my dying breath, kissing and holding you” he murmured against her lips, smiling.

“Shush you……don’t say that”

“Well then if not kissing you then, I want to be f……...”

“Gilbert Blythe!” Anne exclaimed in mock horror as he chuckled at her. She rolled him over so that she was now sitting astride him. She made a show of leaning over him and kissed him tantalisingly, but reached towards the bedside table and picked her nail file up. As he ran his hands up and down her back feeling the curve of her waist, she suddenly sat back up, this time leaving him to chase after her lips. She sat straight up on him and proceeded to nonchalantly file her nails, blowing them and then carrying on filing them.

“Ahem! I don’t mean to interrupt you but…...” He glanced down at his pelvis and rolled his hips beneath her and ground up into her, a smirk on his face.

“Oh don’t mind me…….I just need to do my nails, I’m having lunch with the girls tomorrow……as you were” She said cheekily.

He put his hands on her waist and pushed her down onto him as he slowly ground into her again. His eyes intently on her, and a smile on his face.

She closed her eyes in bliss and bit her bottom lip with her top teeth. She suddenly threw the nail file to one side and threw herself down onto him, God, he made her feel good.

“Oh fuck it…..you win……” she declared and kissed him with wanton abandon as he smiled against her lips.

Chapter Text

When she woke in the morning, the first thing she always did was reach out for Gilberts warm body, she knew he wasn’t there though, she had felt him get up in the early hours and lightly kiss her and whispering “I still love you” to her before she had heard the door softly click shut behind him on his way out to work. She picked her phone up before rolling over onto his side of the bed and burying her face into his pillow. She opened their text message thread.

[Anne]: I still love you too.

She waited a few minutes before the three little bubbles popped up:

[Gilbert]: Morning Carrots, how are my two favourite girls this morning. I gave Joy her milk before I left this morning, about 5 am.

Anne smiled to herself; he had even found time to feed his daughter before he had gone to work. Anne checked the time, it was 9.38 am. That explained why Joy hadn’t woken her yet. She suddenly realised she didn’t feel sick, this was the first time since she discovered that she was pregnant that she hadn’t woken up feeling sick.

[Anne]: Thanks, I’ve only just woken up and I feel much better.

[Gilbert] I was hoping that, I have been asking some patients what they find works with morning sickness, and quite a few said that if they got up later then it wasn’t quite as bad that day.

[Anne]: Thank you Gil, you are always so thoughtful

[Gilbert]: That’s because I think about you all the time Carrots, you are in my brain.

[Anne]: Did you take anything for lunch?

[Gilbert]: Er no, I forgot……I’ll just get something from the cafeteria.

[Anne]: No, you won’t, I’m not having you eating that rubbish, Joy and I will come and meet you and bring you something, what time is your break.

[Gilbert]: About 1.30, Thank you. I love you so much

[Anne]: Gilbert you look after those that you love so well; can you please make sure you are looking after yourself too……I couldn’t bear it if you became unwell.

Anne sat up in bed chewing her lip.

[Gilbert] I will Anne, please don’t worry……I’ve got to go now, I’m being bleeped. I’ll see you at lunch time.

[Anne]: Bye Gil, I love you xx

[Gilbert] Bye, love you too……. Carrots xxxxxxx

She laughed softly to herself, he made everything a competition. She swung her legs out of bed and slipped her robe on over her naked body and tied the belt shut. She had given up wearing a nightdress, it never stayed on very long, and being in bed with Gilbert Blythe was like being in bed with a furnace, he kept her plenty warm. She padded into Joys room to check on her to find her wide-awake playing with her own toes.

“Good morning my little princess” she cooed, as Joy saw her mother and gave her a big gummy smile. Everyone who ever met Joy said that she was the most aptly named child on the planet, she was just so happy all the time. Anne reached down into her crib and picked her up, Joys little hands went straight to her messy braid that fell over her shoulder and yanked it, making Anne laugh.

“You are so like you Dada, yes you are” she laughed making Joy gurgle with happiness and her eyes twinkled like her fathers.

“I am the luckiest woman alive” Anne said wistfully to Joy as she sat in the rocking chair in the nursery and began to feed her, her little hands still fiddling with the end of Anne's braid. She began to sing ‘All is Found’ to her daughter as Joy gazed up at her lovingly. A happy tear ran down Anne's face. She couldn’t believe that here she was, engaged to the man that she desperately loved, his beautiful child in her arms, she had it all.

She suddenly felt a fission of fear creep into her heart. It was a familiar feeling, and one she had been fighting to suppress most of her life, but especially since she had confessed her love to Gilbert and he confessed that he loved her back.

It was the fear of losing it all…… or worse…… of it being taken from her.

She felt a cold shiver run down her spine and her arms instinctively wrapped around Joy a little tighter and she looked up at the ceiling, trying to control her emotions and push the fear back into the dark foreboding corner of her mind from where it had surfaced. She knew she had to fight these demons that had emotionally crippled her since the day after her 9th birthday when her parents had so brutally been taken from her. Since that day, she had guarded her own heart, and tried to protect herself from being so hurt ever again. But in doing so she had ultimately prevented her own happiness, by suppressing her feelings for Gilbert and it had taken nearly losing him forever for her defensive walls to break down.

She looked back down at Joy and her little brow furrowed as she fed from Anne's breast, as if she had picked up on her mother’s change of mood.

Anne sighed and stroked Joys cheek, “It’s ok sweet girl, Mama’s just being silly” she said in a soothing voice and smiled at her. Joys little face relaxed and her eyes started to droop again as she contentedly nodded off in Anne's arms.

Anne placed her back into her crib and went about getting ready to go and meet Gilbert in a few hours, she showered and changed whilst Joy napped and then placed her on the floor under her play gym as she prepared a picnic to take to the hospital with her, baking her famous brownies and cheese straws that Gilbert always wolfed like he had never eaten before in his whole life. She smiled to herself as she thought about how much he loved her cooking. She could vaguely remember cooking this recipe with her mother, and had found it amongst the small box of belongings that had been moved from home to home with her whilst she was in the foster system. She trailed her fingers over the old recipe and closed her eyes, searching her mind for little wisps of memories that she had desperately tried to cling onto over the years. She could remember the comforting smell of chocolate and the way her mother’s red hair slipped over her shoulder and shone in the sun that filtered through the kitchen window as she bent down to put the brownies in the oven. She didn’t need the recipe any more she knew it off by heart, but she still religiously got it out every time that she made the brownies. She had also made this recipe many times with Marilla, it was now covered in chocolatey finger prints and splashes. A tear slid down her face and she wiped it away.

By 1.30 she had packed all of her baked goodies into a backpack and she was waiting in the hospitals main entrance for Gilbert. She looked up to see him walking swiftly towards her a huge grin on his face. God he was handsome, wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and a pale blue tie, she thought to herself as she watched him take off his hospital ID from around his neck and shove it in his pocket. She stood up and they embraced, he kissed her lightly on the lips, wary that he was still in his workplace and had to at least appear to be a respectable doctor in public.

“Hello Carrots” he breathed in her ear, sending a warm flush across her cheeks and down her neck. He pulled back and smirked at her. He knew what effect he had on her. He then turned his attention to Joy and picked her up out of her stroller as she was waving her arms and legs around expectantly at him. He kissed his daughter and then turned his warm hazel eyes back to Anne, searching her green ones. He suddenly looked concerned.

“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

Anne shook her head and forced a smile “Nothing, I’m fine”.

“Come on let’s go sit in the memorial garden”. He took her hand, still holding Joy with one arm and led her to the hospitals glass covered garden and sat down on a bench with her. He placed Joy back into her stroller and turned his attention to Anne. He held both of her hands and looked into her eyes. “What is it Anne, are you ok?.......Is it the baby? No pain or bleeding or anything?” he asked looking ashen.

“No……no……nothing like that, in fact I haven’t felt sick at all today yet”.

“That’s good at least”.

They were silent for a little while, whilst Anne rummaged around in her bag and handed Gilbert some of the food she had prepared. When she looked back up at him, she could still see the concern radiating out of his expressive eyes.

She sighed and looked down at the sandwich in her hand and fiddled with the wrapper, she didn’t want him worrying about her all afternoon.

“I’m just being ridiculous Gil. I have everything I have ever wanted, loving parents, a best friend, a great career, a baby……. And you”. A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly swiped it away. Gilbert squeezed her hand in a silent show of support, knowing that it was best to not interrupt her, but just let her talk as she needed to. “I’m just terrified that it will all suddenly be taken away from me……. that one day I will just pick the phone up or answer the door and my life will be in pieces again…….” She sobbed and Gilbert put his sandwich aside and pulled her into a warm hug, kissing her hair as she softly cried into his chest.

“It’s ok Anne, its ok…….” He soothed over and over again, stroking her hair as it fell down her back. “None of us are going anywhere Anne Shirley. We, are going to have another bouncing baby. We, are going to get married. You, are going to be Mrs Blythe. We, will move back to Avonlea at some point in the future and raise our family. You, will have to listen to me droning on about how much I love you every day until we are old and grey. The kids, will go to college and we will both sob as we have empty nest syndrome……...but then, we will realise it’s not so bad, because we can walk around the house naked again and have sex on the couch…….I, will probably get fat again, and you Mrs Blythe, will still be the most beautiful and wonderful woman I have ever met”.

He felt her body shaking as he held her close, and smiled into her hair knowing her well enough now to know that she was laughing.

She pulled back from him and chuckled as she wiped her tears away.

“That’s better” he said softly, love radiating from his eyes.

“How do you do it?” she laughed quietly “How do you always make me feel better?

Gilbert just shrugged.

“How do you know that I want to do all of those things?”

“What, you want me to get fat?” he laughed raising an eyebrow at her. She just laughed at him.

“I could have blinded you with science, and told you how statistically insignificant the probability of any of those disasters you are worried about ever happening is, but I took the more humanistic approach instead Miss Shirley. Would you actually like me to do the math?”

She shuddered “Oh no not Maths! Yuck, I hated that blessed geometry, and you always thrashed me at it……much to my annoyance…….” She smiled at him and reached up into his hair to fiddle with her favourite curl. “Well, the first step of helping me to worry less, is for you to start eating properly Doctor Blythe” she said picking his sandwich up and handing it back to him as he playfully rolled his eyes. “I have cheese straws and my brownies too” she smiled at him.

“You really are trying to get me fat, aren’t you?”

“Maybe, perhaps other women might stop throwing themselves at you then” she teased, withdrawing her hand from his curls and sticking her finger between the small gap between his buttons on his shirt and softly stroking his abs. “And……I could not care less if you did get fat, just more of you to love” she kissed him quickly and withdrew her hand from inside his shirt, his eyes had gone dark, his pupils blown.

“They can throw themselves all they want; I will always step over them to get to you Carrots”.

She picked his left hand up and kissed his ring finger “I think it’s you who should be wearing the engagement ring, the sooner I get that ring on your finger the better Dr Blythe”.

“Well perhaps we should go ring shopping at the weekend then?”

Anne smiled at him “Can you let me organise your ring?”

He looked at her confused. “How will you know what size to get?”

“How did you know what size to buy my engagement ring? It fitted perfectly straightaway”.

“Are you answering my question with a question Miss Shirley?……classic diversion technique there, if ever I saw one, me thinks” He looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes and a cheeky eyebrow raised.

“Stop doing that thing with your eyes…...you are not getting around me like that…...Dr Blythe”.

“You’re doing it again……. avoiding my question”.

“I have my ways……and that is all I am saying on the matter” she raised her nose in the air and dared him to continue to argue with her.

“I can always endeavour to get it out of you later……” he looked around to see who else was in the garden, and seeing that they were alone, suddenly grabbed her and kissed her passionately, running his hands through her hair “……. when we are alone…….in bed together”.

“Well, you can have fun trying……. but….my…...lips…...are ……. sealed” she punctuated her words with a featherlight kiss to his lips, and then pulling his tie she yanked him towards her and kissed him deeply.

Joy giggled watching them, which brought them both back down to earth as they smiled against each other’s lips. They pulled apart and after sharing a few light and tender kisses, they chatted lightly as they enjoyed the food that Anne had made, before Gilberts phone started bleeping and going mad. He sighed and took it out of his pocket and looked at it.

“I’m sorry Anne……I’ve got to go”.

“But you’ve only had twenty minutes!” she said disappointedly. He was already dragging his ID back out of his pocket though and putting it back around his neck.

“We’ll carry that conversation on when I get home…….and, I think we should set a date” he blushed “I can’t wait to marry you Carrots” they both stood up and he kissed her lightly, but then thought ‘what the hell’, and kissed her deeply again not caring if anybody saw a doctor making out with a visitor in the memorial garden.

“I love you” she whispered as he pulled away.

“I love you more” he smiled and kissed the end of her nose. He bent down and kissed Joys little forehead “Bye bye my beauties……. I’ll see you both later”. Joy grabbed hold of his tie and wouldn’t let go. Making him chuckle as he worked it out of her little hands. He turned to walk away and heard Joy start to cry. He turned back with a look of devastation on his face, realising she was crying because he was leaving and started to walk back to them.

“It’s ok Gil, just go…...” Anne smiled softly at him and picked Joy up out of her stroller to comfort her. Gilbert turned and walked away, running a hand through his hair, to complete what felt like the longest shift he had ever worked; he couldn’t wait to get home and be with his family.

Chapter Text

“So Carrots……Am I still they best you’ve ever had?”

She laughed as they lazily kissed each other as they lay still tangled on the bed together catching their breath. His lips trailed down her neck and collar bone and she sighed in pleasure.

She turned her eyes to him, her cheeks still flushed from their passion. His hair was a mess and his lips swollen from kissing her. She tenderly ran her forefinger over his lips and looked into his eyes through her lashes.

“Are you fishing for compliments Gil?” she asked.

He immediately lent back over her and kissed her deeply “Do you know what you do to me when you call me that? No word of a lie…...you make me go weak at the knees every single time……even now……after all of this time”. He kissed her again “I can remember how it felt when you called me that for the first time…..by the lake of shining waters. I thought I was going to have a heart attack……my heart skipped about ten beats and then raced like I was running a marathon".

“What?......when I call you……Gil” she said seductively and rolled the last word of her tongue.

“Yeah……and you are doing it again now…….” He kissed her tenderly behind her ear, just on the spot where he knew made her go weak at the knees.

“Gil….” she breathed, arching her back of the bed and pulling him back down on top of her. He deepened the kiss on her neck and she gasped. She placed her hands in his hair and pulled his head up so that she could kiss his lips. He ghosted his hand up the side of her ribs but stopped before he got to the underside of her breast, and the ran his hand back down her side and over her stomach, lovingly caressing her newly forming baby bump, his hand drifted to her hip and grabbed hold of her, pulling her towards him.

“So……Am I?” he said against her lips, smiling.

She pulled away from his kiss. And looked at him sternly. He tried to lower his lips to hers again but she held his face in her hands firmly, resisting his movement.

She arched an eyebrow at him “That, is a very dangerous question Dr Blythe. What would you do if I told you that Roy was a better lover, or that Dickhead Danny had rocked my world?” she put her nose in the air and arched her eyebrow playfully at him.

He scowled at her and pouted “I would go away and cry” he said giving her his sad eyes “And then go and kick their ass’s!”.

“And how exactly would you kick Roy’s ass, him being in prison for the next 13 years?”

“I’d probably charm my way in, or somehow find myself doing some sort of medical procedure at his prison…...I have my ways. Or, I’d wait until he came out…...I have been known to be a very patient man”.

She arched an eyebrow at him, “So, what exactly would an obstetrician be doing in an all-male prison?” she laughed.

He rolled his eyes and moved off her again, lying on his back staring up at the ceiling.

She smiled and rolled onto her side, propping her head up with her hand, she trailed her fingers lightly over his abs and then put her finger under his chin and turned his head towards her, so that she could look him in the eyes.

“Are you feeling needy Gilbert Blythe?”

He just gave her his sad eyes and pouted again, but there was a tell-tale twinkle in his eyes that told her he was just messing around.

“No” he said truculently.

She kissed him lightly, “Just so you know, as I said to you once before……I stand by my original statement…...you, Gilbert Blythe, are definitely, without a single, solitary doubt, the best I have ever had, or will ever have for that matter, seeing that you are now it for me……that’s quite fortunate really”.

He grinned and suddenly turned onto his side too, mirroring her position on the bed, he twirled a glossy strand of her hair through his fingers, weaving it between them.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sounds ominous, in the light of your previous question……. but yes of course you can ask me a question, after what we have just done, I think you can ask me anything”.

He looked at her and his gaze faltered, his eyes dropping down to the mattress. “What is it Gil?” She asked him, beginning to feel a little nervous herself. She ran a hand through his hair, to try and reassure him.

He paused before looking back up at her, still fiddling with the end of her hair. ”When we were in Antigua the first time…….and we made our agreement……why did you insist on the no kissing clause?”

His eyes flitted from left to right searching her eyes for the answer.

She closed her eyes, feeling slightly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of his intense eyes, and rolled onto her back, only opening her eyes to look up unseeing at the ceiling.

She chewed on her bottom lip with her top teeth, and glanced at him nervously. He reached out and took her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing her knuckles softly.

“Gil I…...” she closed her eyes again, and ran her free hand through her hair and then placed it behind her head. She opened her eyes again to see the concern on his face. “Gil, can you remember when you kissed me accidentally in my apartment in Toronto, the night you came for your job interview at the hospital?” He nodded mutely, not wanting to interrupt her. She sat up in the bed and leant back against the headboard. “Well, that night kind of changed things……I always knew how attractive you are of course…….” she blushed, “……. but I think that night was when I realised how physically attracted to you I was…... well not only that……your kiss affected me more than any other kiss I had ever had in my life before. When you kissed me……it was so soft and gentle, but my God…….” She ran both of her hands through her hair and then held them at the base of her neck, eventually running them through to the ends of her hair whilst she got her thoughts and words in order. Gilbert sat up in bed next to her, leaning back against the headboard “It was the most romantic and erotic moment of my life…….my heart hammered, my stomach was full of butterflies, my legs turned to jelly, and all I wanted to do was to feel your lips on mine again……I felt like an electric shock had passed through my whole body, just from one small kiss”. She looked at him with her big green eyes, and he fell even more in love with her.

He opened his mouth to say something but Anne gently placed her finger to his lips. “But I felt like I had stolen that kiss from you……”

He immediately started to shake his head, but she continued.

“I thought that you would never have willingly kissed me……. you being Gilbert Blythe and me being Anne Shirley……” she laughed softly to cover her embarrassment and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

“Anne, no! That’s not how I felt at all…...please don’t say things like that about yourself. I …...”.

“I knew it was a mistake, that you didn’t mean to do it……. but it was the best kiss of my life” she interrupted him and picked their joined hands up, softly kissing his knuckles this time. “But what was the worst part was that I knew that it would never happen again…….” She had to stop talking at that point as Gilbert had suddenly lunged across the bed at her and was kissing her senseless. They kissed passionately until she slowed it down to long lazy kisses, before he pulled away and said, "You are so wrong, you couldn’t be more wrong in fact…….it was the best kiss of my life too, I am so in love with you, I hung onto the memory of that kiss for years”. He stroked her cheek lovingly and gazed into her eyes. He suddenly looked confused, his brow furrowed and his eyebrows knitted together. “But I don’t understand Anne, if you felt like that when I kissed you……. why did you not want to kiss me when we made our agreement?”

“Gil, I did want you to kiss me, I desperately wanted to kiss you too, but I can only see that now with the benefit of hindsight”. She turned slightly in the bed so that she was facing him more. “I was hopelessly in love with you too……. But I didn’t know what love really felt like, I had this silly immature, overly romanticised version of what love should be and I couldn’t see what was at the end of my own nose. You were right what you said to me on holiday about having my nose stuck in a book and nearly missing the opportunity of true love, which was right in front of me all the time……. which was you. Always you…… When I looked at you, I used to get these feelings…...my heart would do this funny flip flop thing” she laughed and placed her hand on her heart. “And little stubborn Anne Shirley, managed to persuade herself that they were every other feeling going out there……all apart from love”.

She took both of his hands in hers and looked into his beautiful eyes. “But I was terrified Gil” she paused and took a deep breath trying to steady her nerves and keep her voice level “I was so terrified of losing you, I was so stupid and stubborn…… I would not let myself love you……. after my experiences with Danny and Roy, I was too afraid……. you were too precious to me……. I feared that if I let myself love you and we got into a relationship, that we would inevitably break up and I would lose you from my life……and I knew that I could never live without you…… I thought that by keeping you at arm’s length and just staying friends, then we could be friends forever……I’m so sorry Gil…...” she started to cry and he tenderly embraced her.

“I know Anne, I was scared too. I knew living without you would kill me……... I couldn’t breathe without you” he kissed her tears away and then kissed her tenderly on the lips.

She wiped the excess tears that had run down her neck away, and laughed softly at his sweetness. She looked up into his eyes. “The answer to your question Gil, is that I said ‘no’ to kissing me, because I knew that if you kissed me…….I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from falling for you……that one more kiss would tip me over the edge and all would be lost, the last of my defences would be destroyed and I would fall irreversibly, irrevocably, scandalously in love with you…… which is kind of where I am now……” she whispered, looking at him with tears in her eyes. He pulled her in and gave her a searing kiss that left her completely breathless, her hands raking through his hair.

“I was scared too Anne, I was just as stupid, if not more so……I knew how I felt about you, from that first day. I entered into our agreement on false pretences. I agreed to no emotions when I was already completely and utterly in love with you, but too afraid to tell you……”

“I wasn’t ready though Gil, I was too immature and stubborn to realise that you were the man of my dreams……. if you had told me I would have freaked out and it would have ended our friendship anyway……...I didn’t believe you when you did tell me, that last morning in Antigua when we argued in the garden” she shook her head at her own stupidity. “I know it’s no excuse, but I think I was trying to protect myself……I have lost so much in my life……I knew I couldn’t bear losing you too…...and when I heard that you were dying……” she buried her head into his chest and he encircled her with his arms “If it hadn’t had been for Joy, I would have wanted to die too…...” His arms tightened around her and she felt his hot tears on the top of her head. “……. after everything I have been through in my life, I have never felt like that before…...but I did when I thought I was going to lose you……and it was entirely my own stupidity that had prevented us from being happy……. from being together.”

“Anne……” he started, but she kissed his lips lovingly.

“Will you forgive me Gil……”

“You know I already have……a hundred times over” he said as she wiped his tears away and held his face in her hands. He leaned forward and kissed her suggestively.

They fell into silence as they held each other tightly and contemplated what the other had just said to them. Gilbert softly kissed the top of her hair and gently raised her chin with his forefinger so that he could look her in the eye. He smiled at her warmly, that little twinkle was back in his eyes.

“So, my little accidental kiss……’the most romantic and erotic experience in your life’” he brushed his lips against hers, leaving her to chase after him “……. was better that sex with Roy?”

“God yeah” she laughed and his face lit up.

“Was he?.......You know?……” he made a pinching motion with his forefinger and thumb, reducing the size of space between them and wincing as he did so. ”…….a bit on the small side?”

“Gilbert Blythe!” Anne guffawed, and elbowed him playfully in the side, “I’m not telling you that!.......all that matters is that he wasn’t you. He could have been hung like a donkey, but I never felt anything like what I feel with you, when I was with him”.

“I’m right though, aren’t I?” he smirked cockily.

“What happened to the Gilbert Blythe of old, who never wanted to talk about bedroom activities?”

He leaned over to his bedside table and popped his glasses on, knowing she couldn’t resist him with them on and turned back to her and pushed them up his nose, he cocked a cheeky eyebrow at her. She flushed and her pupils dilated, “Go on…....tell me I’m wrong?” He held his fingers out again, only and inch apart.

“Gilbert Blythe!......I am not having this conversation with you” she looked at him lying there, bare in their bed with just his glasses on, looking devastatingly handsome, he smiled at her and winked, his eyes twinkling and his dimples deep and dashing.

“Of for fucks sake……” she giggled “No…… You are not wrong Gilbert Blythe!” and threw herself back down onto the bed and pulled him down on top of her and kissed him deeply. He smiled against her lips.

“Have you noticed how everyone seems to call me ‘Gilbert Blythe’ all the time, not just ‘Gilbert’”

“Well, that is your name……. Gilbert Blythe”.

“It’s not like there are a whole host of other poor buggers out there called ‘Gilbert’, and you have to use my last name to differentiate me from the rest of the other ’Gilberts’ out there that we are tripping over constantly”.

She giggled at his silliness. “Maybe it’s because your name precedes you……you are the stuff of legend in Avonlea”.

“Are you saying I’m a legend Anne Shirley?”

“That you are my love……. or should I say that you are my legend……Gilbert Blythe”.

“Call me Gil” he growled throatily at her and he kissed her neck.

“Gil…...” she purred. He pressed his body hard against hers and she gasped in shock “Really?.......Again?.......already?” she giggled.

“I did warn you……what happens when you call me that ……”

“You are REALLY going to enjoy my second trimester then……’Gil’ is all you will hear me say…..”

Chapter Text

“You are going to have to stop doing that Carrots or I’ll get sacked for abandoning my presentations and flying home so I can sort my fiancée out!”

“Giiiillll” she purred again and smirked at him and watched him flush on her phone screen.

“Jesus Christ……and you say I am a tease”.

“I told you I got as horny as hell during my second trimester…….If you choose to go to Paris on another blessed medical conference, then that is entirely your own fault”.

“Were you like this with Joy?”

“God yeah, although it was worse……. I just had the most erotic memories of what we did in Antigua to dwell on……. And I didn’t have you then…….in my bed……. to make those fantasies a reality…….and I thought about you all the time”.

“Aaannnne……” he sighed in frustration. “Did you really……. think about me……like that? He shook his head and loosened his tie and undid the top button of his formal shirt.

“Yeah, all the time, I mostly used to think about your hands all over my body Gil and about how you made me feel……” She sighed and looked at him “……and it’s not much better now with you being so far away……and it doesn’t help when you look like that……”she pointed at him down the screen,”…… all handsome and dashing…….and those damn glasses Gil…...are you trying to drive me mad on purpose?”

“No, I think that just comes naturally, and I want to be able to see you, hence the glasses.” he grinned at her.

“I miss you” Anne sighed and touched his face on the screen “I hate waking up without you”.

“Is that because you want to climb all over me every morning” he smirked at her.

“Well yes that……..and I do love you so”.

His eyes softened and he smiled warmly at her “I love you too Carrots….... how are you feeling?” he pulled his tie off from around his neck and tossed it onto his hotel bed.

“Not too bad, I felt a little nauseous after breakfast, but I wasn’t sick. The sickness is nowhere near as bad as it was when I was pregnant with Joy……. I think this one’s a boy”.

“You know there is no way of telling, just from pregnancy symptoms……. those theories are just old wife’s tales……. there is no science behind them”.

“You are so boring sometime Dr Blythe. Even dear, sweet, infatuated Ruby thought you were ‘boring’ when you walked her home and quote ‘talked about physics and poetry’ all the time” she laughed.

“Yeah…… I did that on purpose to put her off me……. I knew she wasn’t interested in any of that kind of stuff, so I just rambled on about quadratic equations and quantum mechanics and how Walt Whitman was the father of free verse” he laughed, his cheeks blushing charmingly. “I was never interested in her Anne, she’s a lovely sweet girl, and I adore her as my friend, but she never held a candle to you my love……..It was always you.”

“You pissed me off that day……. when I look back now, I can see that I was jealous sick that you were walking home with her”. She smiled and shook her head at her own stupidity.

“I think I pissed you off every day back then, didn’t I?”

“Yep……you were an irritating little bugger” She laughed “You really knew how to get under my skin……. How did you know what would irritate me so much”.

“This is going to sound really creepy, but I just watched you. I knew that you were really protective of your friends, that you lived for your family and English Lit, so I just stayed in and worked my ass off to beat you. I thought about what angle you would take on certain topics and resolved to argue the toss with you. I researched as many alternative arguments as I could, so I was always armed and ready to have a debate with you……it was the only way I could get you to look at me or engage with me.”

She laughed fondly “I used to watch you too, that’s how I knew that moving your stuff would really piss you off”.

“I must say, squirting the water onto my chair was a work of genius, you nearly had me then Carrots” he growled in a similar voice he had done on that day. Goose bumps flashed down her neck and spine, giving her a delightful shiver.

“Gil stop, it really turns me on when you use that voice”.

“I know, that’s why I did it……then and now”.

“You knew you turned me on back then”.

“Your pupils used to dilate when I did it……that is one of the first signs of sexual arousal……Don’t look so shocked” He laughed when her jaw dropped slightly open, “ I was a fifteen year old boy interested in becoming a doctor, do you not think the first thing I’m going to research is the science behind sex?”

“How the hell did you know that I fancied the pants off you before even I did?”

“Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I thought that……as you were so hostile towards me……but I could see that I had some kind of physiological effect on you, that’s why I kept doing what I was doing……pissing you off” he laughed. “That’s why I was so bloody confused all the time, one minute you are staring at me like I was sat there naked, the next minute you are calling me a ‘libertine or a roue’”.

She buried her head in her hands “Shit Gil……. I can’t believe you can remember that…...I’m so sorry……. I’m such a hateful shrew…….”

He laughed and interrupted her “I told you before, I can remember every time I was in about 6 feet of you…….and you are not a hateful shrew…….you are my little cutie shrew, with shiny eyes, a button nose and a glossy coat” he smirked at her. “Speaking of little cuties, where is my Joy?”

“She napping at the moment……. hang on, I’ll take you to her” she picked her phone up and walked along the familiar hall and into Joys room. “Oh here you are I wondered where you have been all morning…….I should have guessed” Anne flipped the camera on her phone so that Gilbert could see Rusty stretched out in the middle of the spare bed, all gangly and like a teenager. “Hey Rust” Gilbert said and clicked his tongue, his usual call for the cat formerly known as Carrots, Rusty immediately opened his green eyes and stretched out even more, before getting up and rubbing the side of his cheek against Anne's phone and giving a guttural purr at the sound of his master’s voice.

Gilbert chuckled as he heard the amplified purr coming through his phone. “He’s missing you too, he sulked for the first three days and refused to eat anything, and now I kept finding him curled up on your pillow every time I leave our bedroom door open” she laughed softly and stroked the cat. “I found him curled up in the laundry basket on Wednesday, fast asleep on your running shirt……It reminded me of that time I found you asleep on the laundry floor in Redmond”.

“Lol. Yeah, I remember you waking me up……but I was so exhausted I can’t remember even going in there, let alone doing my laundry” he laughed.

She moved around the room and held her phone over Joys cot so that Gilbert could see her.

“God, she’s so beautiful Anne, I love her so much…….” His voice wavered slightly “I miss you both, I want to come home”.

Joy stirred in her sleep, probably because she heard her Daddy’s voice and after stretching her little body out, she opened her eyes and reached her arms out to Anne. Anne flipped the camera back to the forward-facing angle and picked Joy up out of her cot and took her back into their bedroom, she heard a little thump behind her as Rusty trotted out with both of them as well. He seemed to be intent on staying as close to Joy as he could, in Gilberts absence, Joy was the next best thing as far as he was concerned.

Propping the phone up on the dresser Anne sat with Joy on her knee so that Gilbert could see them both, that was when Rusty had finished pacing back and forth across the dresser and getting in the way of the camera, and giving Gilbert an eye full of cat bottom. Whilst Anne was distracted gently shooing him out of the way for the time being, Joy had made a grab for Anne's phone and was mouthing it, causing Gilbert to laugh as he got a good view of her new tooth that she had cut whilst he had been away as her little tongue lathed all over the camera.

“Joy, you monkey” he heard Anne laugh as she wrestled the phone off her daughter and wiped the camera clean on her skirt. “Can you see Dada?” Joy waved her little arms and grinned at her father, reaching for the phone again.

“Wow, I can see her new tooth……. she hasn’t been too grisly, has she?” Gilbert grinned at his daughter and clapped his hands gently for her to copy him.

“She was a bit cranky on Tuesday, but she’s settled down now” Anne smiled as Joy grinned and slapped her little hands together, grinning even wider when her parents both cheered her for her actions.

“Give her a kiss for me” Gilbert begged, and Anne softly kissed her daughter’s curls and Joy waved her arms and legs together happily. She saw Gilbert reach out and touch the screen, as if he was touching Joys face. “This is agony being over here……I miss you both so much” Rusty yowled on cue and made Gilbert laugh “yes and you, I miss you too Rust…… you would just love it here Anne……everywhere I go, I think ‘Anne would love this’……I had the best carrot cake ever this afternoon in a little patisserie just down the road, and I nearly burst into tears whilst I was eating it, because I wanted to share it with you……. I think the staff there thought I was a bonkers……. I heard them muttering something about ‘Des Américains fous’ so I politely corrected them and told them ‘En fait, je suis un Canadien fou Lamoureux. Qui peut parler parfaitement français’ when I paid the bill and they blushed bright red”, he laughed.

“I didn’t know you could speak French” Anne said startled.

“Well how did you think I was going to give my presentation?”

“In English of course……. how could I not know that?”

“I do like to surprise you every now and again” He chuckled. ”I need to keep you on your toes Miss Shirley”.

“Like with the singing you mean?” she cocked an eyebrow at him.

After finding out he had a beautiful singing voice, she had often begged him to sing to her, but he had so far refused to. Instead, still sticking to singing in his awful voice, and much to her own annoyance with herself, she still found herself laughing at him when he did it. He told her that his real singing voice was ‘only for special occasions’ and as it was now making Joy giggle her head off when he sang out of tune, she knew that she would have to listen to it for a few more years yet to come. She couldn’t help but smile at him “Ruby was so wrong about you……you are anything but boring”.

“Don’t forget she said I was ‘pretty’ too” he smirked cockily at her.

She rolled her eyes at him as she pulled her top open and started to feed Joy.

“Now, it’s me whose is jealous of our daughter” he joked as he wiggled his eyebrows up and down and leant forward so he could see better.

“Gilbert Blythe!” she laughed as he lent back in his chair.

“I can’t help it, its’ only because you are so beautiful and I’m madly in love with you.”

Xx

A week later Anne was standing behind the security barrier at the arrivals gate at Toronto international airport, with Joy in her arms. Every time the automatic doors slid open and shut again, she stood on her tip toes to look for the familiar curly mop that was always head and shoulders above everybody else’s head. He wasn’t expecting her to collect him from the airport, he had an airport transfer booked with a few of his colleagues, courtesy of the hospital. But Anne had been unable to wait a moment longer than necessary to see him and had gone to the airport to pick him up. All of a sudden as the doors slid open to release another batch of weary travellers, she caught sight of him leaning against a railing on the other side of the door, he was scrolling through his phone and didn’t see her and Joy waiting 30 meters or so away. He glanced sideways looking a bit annoyed she noted, obviously waiting for one of the other doctors he was travelling with to join him before exiting the airport. Anne noticed that Joy had seen him and was reaching her little arms out to her Daddy, she let out a little excited squeal and recognising his own daughters little voice, Gilberts head suddenly snapped up to see Anne and Joy waiting for him. Joy waving her arms out to him. As soon as they made eye contact, Joy began to cry. He pushed himself away from the railing he was leaning on, and ran through the doors and into the arms of his family, dropping his suitcase he was carrying and wrapping his arms around his fiancé and daughter and kissing both of their faces. Joy clutched onto him, and her little legs let go of Anne so that she could climb into her father’s Arms, she stopped crying as soon as she had practically embedded herself into his jumper.

“I Love you; I love you……God, I have missed you both”, he laughed through his own happy tears, tightening his arm around Anne and kissed her firmly on her lips, Anne felt her usual response to his kisses, butterflies in her stomach and her knees went weak.

“I love you…...I have missed you too……I’m so happy you are home” she grinned up at him, tears welling in her own eyes. She went up onto her tippy toes and kissed him again.

His eyes went wide as he looked down at her baby bump and he caressed her bump with his free hand that wasn’t holding Joy. His eyes came back to hers and they were full of love “I can’t believe how much you have grown Carrots……you look radiant……how have you been……. are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…… now that you are back anyway” she smiled. “How was your flight?”

“Great……I got a free upgrade…….to first class” he laughed.

Anne rolled her eyes “Female check in attendant then I take it?” she laughed.

“Err she may have been” he laughed “Alex and Michael were upgraded too” he nodded behind him at his colleagues that had just emerged behind him. “They sat and got drunk on the free champers, I just stretched out and went to sleep……I wanted to be wide awake for you when I got home……not hung over”. He nodded towards Alex, who was rubbing his head and looking a little worse for wear.

“So, you are erm…….as fresh as a daisy then?” she asked him pulling him in for another kiss.

“As fresh as a Daisy” he confirmed “Up for anything you may or may not want to do with me” He cocked a knowing eyebrow at her and her pupils dilated.

She grabbed hold of his hand and laced her fingers through his, and arched a playful eyebrow at him “Come this way then Dr Blythe” she whispered seductively in his ear and pulled him along towards where she had parked her car.

Fortunately, when they arrived back at their apartment, Joy had fallen asleep in her car seat, so after Gilbert had very carefully placed her in her crib, he raced down the corridor and met with his fiancés hungry lips as they kissed passionately and fell onto the bed together.

Unfortunately, Rusty was having none of it. Just as Anne pulled Gilberts Jumper and t shirt over his head, he felt a little prickle of cats claws on his bare back as he lent over Anne kissing her. He wagged his hand behind his back distractedly, trying to shoo the cat away. Rusty was not to be side tracked, and was determined to get a fuss off his master. He did it again, this time using both of his front paws to knead Gilberts bare back. causing him to arch his back and stop kissing Anne.

He looked over his shoulder “Rusty……not now mate” he gasped and returned to kissing Anne.

Rusty, not happy with being ignored, then walked along the bed, alongside the couple passionately kissing and rubbed the side of his face on Gilberts cheek and purred loudly.

“Oh, for fucks sake…….” Gilbert gasped as he climbed off Anne and scooped the cat up with one hand and deposited him outside of the bedroom door and then closed it, shutting the cat out. Kicking his trousers off on the way, just wearing his boxers, he launched himself back onto the bed next to Anne making her bounce up off the mattress, she giggled and then resumed kissing him, her hands in his hair, raking through his curls.

“Yeeeoooowwwlll”.

“Yeeeoooowwwlll”

They heard a loud thump as Rusty leapt up at the door and then a scrabbling noise as he constantly clawed at the crack in the door.

“Yeeeoooowwwlll”

Another loud thump as Rusty jumped again, this time rattling the door handle as he slipped back down the door.

The lovers on the bed both started to laugh against each other’s lips.

“Yeeeoooowwwlll”

“It’s no good, I cannot do this with him wailing like that out there” Anne said holding Gilberts face between her hands, his lips still puckered as he tried to lean down and kiss her again. He rolled his eyes and rolled off Anne as she got up to let the cat back in. Rusty trilled and trotted straight back in, his tail held jauntily in the air, pleased with himself that his actions had had their desired effects and he had been readmitted into the room. He jumped up on the bed and ran across Gilberts bare chest. Gilbert raised his hand to stroke him but the cat went and sat on the bedside table with his back to him, his ears pointing backwards.

“Hey Rust” Gilbert clicked his tongue at him as he raised his body off the bed and supported his weight with his elbow.

Rusty flicked his ears but refused to budge, obviously listening to what Gilbert was saying, but still sitting with his back to him. Anne slipped back onto the bed behind Gilbert and put her arms around his waist. “I think he’s sulking”.

“Rusty, hey Rusty…. come on boy” Gilbert encouraged.

Rusty sat resolutely with his back to him, his ginger ears twitching.

“Ok have it your way then” Gilbert sighed and turned around and started to kiss Anne. Sure, enough he felt the cats claws gently prickling his bare back again. He stopped kissing her and looked over his shoulder at the naughty cat. Rusty eyed him, with narrow eyes, and then turned again and sat with his back to him.

“Oh, I give up” Gilbert sighed and Anne chuckled. “Come on then Carrots” he said and the cat immediately jumped over Gilberts body and was purring passionately between them, nuzzling into Gilberts face.

“It appears as though he has missed you too” Anne said, stroking the cat.

“He’s a bigger baby than Joy!” Gilbert laughed. As Rusty/Carrots circled around between them and settled down purring loudly. “I cannot believe I have been cock blocked by my own damn cat……perhaps this is my payback for having him neutered”.

“Yeah, Karma a bitch” Anne laughed, as she leant over the cat and kissed Gilbert. She ran her hand over his bare chest “I guess I will have to learn to share you…….I have waited 3 weeks for you, I guess I can wait another couple of hours.”

“I’ll make it worth your wait” he growled at her.

“I think you have a deal Dr Blythe” she said lightly.

They both put their heads down on their pillows and held hands over Rusty.

“I love you Gilbert Blythe”.

“I love you too Anne Shirley”.

Chapter Text

“I have never felt so blessed fat in my whole life” Diana complained, rubbing her back as she tried to stand up out of the chair. “How come you have the pertest, cutest bump ever. and I look like a the most beached of beached whales”. Fred was immediately by Diana’s side to help her up.

“Thank you darling” she whispered too him as he hauled her up.

Anne just looked in the mirror as she put a final coat of gloss on her lips and smoothed her bridesmaid dress down over her bump. “You look radiant, my dear sweet Diana, your hair is glossier than silk and your skin is alabaster, you are the most beautiful pregnant woman I have ever seen”.

“She’s not wrong, my love” Fred said kissing her on the cheek to avoid getting her lipstick on his mouth.

“And I’ve still got three weeks to go……. Fred will have to shoehorn me into the car to get me to the hospital, when the time comes”.

Anne laughed, “I was like a Pillsbury doughboy with Joy, every pregnancy is different……the important thing is that you and baby are healthy, Gil has been keeping a close eye on both of us”.

“Is he still as stressed?” Fred asked.

“Yeah, he takes my blood pressure three times a day, he’s paranoid it will shoot up again like last time…….and he does a dip test on my urine every morning……” she rolled her eyes and chuckled.

“And they say romance is dead!” Fred quirked.

“Joking aside, he has been really stressed after Joys difficult delivery……unfortunately, he knows how much can go wrong……. very rarely of course”. She reassured Fred “But sometimes, ignorance is bliss……and I know he’s been trying to hide how anxious he is from me so as to not stress me out”. Anne stroked her baby bump fondly and smiled down at it “I can’t wait to meet my son……. Rachel Lynde tells me that boys are more affectionate that girls, and give lots of cuddles…….I can’t get a look in with Joy when Gil is around…….she’s a proper Daddy’s girl” she chortled, loving the relationship that Gilbert and Joy shared.

There was a knock at the door, “Are you decent Di, can I come in?” Gilbert asked.

“Yes” Diana yelled, and he stuck his head around the door and then came into the hotel room. “Does it really matter if I am decent? ……. you are going to have a good view of my ‘nether yea’ soon, over the next few weeks, I may as well lie here naked on the bed now” Diana laughed.

“Are you quoting The Wyf of Bath to me Diana Wright” he laughed, circling his arms around Anne's waist from behind, and nuzzling the side of his face into her hair and softly kissing her neck, his hands stroking her bump. He quickly span her around and kissed her lips passionately.

They had been staying at Green Gables for a few days before Ruby and Moody’s wedding and Anne had decided that she felt too uncomfortable having sex with him in her childhood room, with Marilla down the hall and Matthew directly below her in his bedroom. Which had led to them both feeling rather frustrated, they had even tried to sneak off to the barn together, but Joy had woken up just as they were tiptoeing down the stairs together, hand in hand like a couple of naughty teenagers. The only other time they had been left alone in the house together was when Marilla was visiting Rachel and Matthew had gone into town. Cole had popped over for a surprise visit, although it was Cole who had gotten the surprise, discovering them both half naked and red faced in the kitchen.

“Gilbeeeert!” Anne laughed, pulling away from him, he had a silly smile on his face and looked like a clown with her lip gloss all over his lips. She wiped it away with her thumb, “I’m going to have to re-do my lipstick again now. Is Joy ok?”

“Yes, happily being spoilt by Marilla and Matthew……...and it’s your fault, I can’t stop kissing you……. you look just stunning Anne……. I couldn’t help myself” he held both of her hands with his and dipped his chin onto his chest and raised an eyebrow at her, his eyes dark and sparkling as he gazed at her and then gave her a cheeky wink, that made her flush from her collar bone to the roots of her hair.

“It’s just a good job, Fred and Di are here, otherwise you would be having to put your dress back on too” he said ever so lightly.

“Oh My God!” Diana groaned “Will you two stop……..I prayed for you two to get your act together, and now I’m glad it took you 15 years! I’m just glad I haven’t had to listen to this for the last decade and a half.”

“Well, I had to listen to him pining for her for all of those years” Fred laughed “If he had been a dog, somebody would have shot him by now to put the poor old thing out of his misery!”

Gilbert laughed and nodded in agreement, his lips pressed together, trying to hide his smile and his eyebrows raised.

“Oh my God tell me about it……I had to listen to her telling me ‘He’s just a chum Diana!’, ‘Stop Diana’, ‘we are just friends Diana!’. ‘He’s Gilbert Blythe, Diana’, ‘he doesn’t feel like that about me Diana!’”. She mimicked Anne voice. “And best of all, the old favourite….. ‘The iron has entered my soul Diana’”. Diana smirked at her.

Gilbert hugged Anne harder and they wrapped their arms around each other and swayed slightly.

“Really……we are so happy for you, we really are, put please for the mother of all things holy, stop with the eye sex!”. Diana laughed.

“No……I couldn’t if I tried” Gilbert said softly to her, his eyes fixed on Anne. Anne smiled warmly up at him and fiddled with her favourite curl atop his head.

There was another soft knock on the door and Ruby’s mother, Mrs Gillis popped her head around the door.

“Ruby is ready ladies.......It’s time……..” she smiled and sniffed, trying not to cry.

Anne quickly repaired her lip gloss and Gilbert held his arm out too her, she slipped her hand through the crook of his arm and he whispered in her ear, “It’s our turn next Carrots” and winked at her again. Her heart flip flopped, “I can’t wait” she smiled up at him and followed Fred and Diana out of the room towards the awaiting vintage cars, which were taking them to the small church where Ruby and Moody were to be married.

Xx

The service as they usually say was ‘beautiful’ and Ruby looked extraordinarily pretty, in a wedding gown that would have put any princess to shame. The guests actually laughed heartily as the two heavily pregnant bridesmaids waddled up the isle after the stunning bride, on the arms of their respective partners. The two women took it all in good humour as they realised how ridiculous they looked, in their baby pink frilly dresses that Ruby had insisted upon them wearing.

When she had tried the dreaded dress on at home before the wedding, Anne had grumbled about how awful she looked in that colour, and had likened herself to how Gilbert had looked in his pink frilly dress on the day of his Lambs initiation ordeal.

Gilbert had quite efficiently and thoroughly shown her how wrong she was……. Twice.

But now as they sat around the table with their old high school friends, Anne did not care how ridiculous she felt, Gilberts warm arm around her, his thumb gently caressing her shoulder as they laughed, joked and reminisced with their friendship group.

Josie shook her head “I can’t believe you two……. did you try to get pregnant together at the same time on purpose?” she laughed.

“No, not at all…….we hadn’t even had a conversation about it……. Fred and I had been trying since our wedding, but I guess it took going to Antigua for it to happen”.

“Gil, joked that there must be something in the water there……that’s three Avonlea babies that have been conceived there” Anne Joked.

Josie looked at Gilbert and he gave her a sad smile, but didn’t say anything. He had been treating Josie and Charlie for unexplained infertility at the hospital. He hadn’t told Anne that after her miscarriage the year before Josie and Charlie were in his care and were desperately trying to have a child themselves.

Charlie laughed and put an arm around his wife and gave her a sideways hug “Perhaps we should try it babe” he smiled softly at her and kissed her cheek as she glanced down at the table cloth. “What was the name of the resort again?” he Joked making Josie smile.

“The Grand Antiguan Hotel Resort and Spa” Gilbert said straight away “I highly recommend it” he winked at Anne making her blush. “I have a great time, every time I go there” he said knocking his drink back and grinning.

“Hey you, don’t get wasted again……Just because one of your ex’s is getting married again” Josie teased. Anne shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Gilbert sensed that her mood had shifted too.

Gilbert nearly choked on his wine. “I’d hardly call Ruby an ex……...I walked her home once” he laughed.

Charlie looked at Gilbert “Is that why you were wasted at our wedding?.......Because Josie was getting married?”

“No…….no……God no! You know what Josie is like for stirring……. don’t listen to her, she’s just talking nonsense” he said and Josie who was sitting next to him, nudged him playfully with her elbow and he grinned at her.

After the speeches in which Ruby’s mad crush on Gilbert featured heavily, resulting in Gilbert covering his red face with his hands as the wedding guests chuckled at his discomfort, the newly wedded couple had their first dance and were soon joined on the dance floor by their friends.

Anne and Gill swayed gently together in each other’s arms to the music. She felt him sigh softly and pull her closer to him without squashing her bump too much. “I love you Miss Shirley” he whispered into her ear.

She didn’t reply to him but just looked up at him, her eyes were guarded as they flitted left and right looking up into his eyes. “What is it, Anne? Are you feeling ok?” he said suddenly concerned.

“Gil? why did you get so drunk at Josie’s wedding? You never actually told me why……. did you still have some residual feelings for her?” Her eyes anxious, and her lips pressed together, ignoring his questions.

“Anne……. No, of course not……...I told you; it was only ever you……hang on……” he laced his fingers through hers as he turned and led her away from the dance floor, “……...let’s find somewhere quieter to talk”. He led her out onto the deserted hotel veranda, that overlooked the shoreline. Ruby had chosen to have her wedding back on PEI at the White Sands Hotel. He pulled a patio chair out for her and cocked an eyebrow at her, indicating that he wanted her to sit down. She sat down and he grabbed a chair for himself directly opposite her. He leant down and took her shoes off for her and placed her bare feet in his lap and began to give her a foot rub, his eyes remained downcast, concentrating on her feet.

“Did you Gil?……do you?....... Do you……. still have feelings for Josie?”

Gilbert looked over his shoulder to double check that they were alone and that there were no nosey Avonlea gossips hanging around listening in and then shook his head, “No, I do not” he said categorically. “Anne, when I told you it was always you, I meant it……. Always…… even when I was with Josie”. He admitted.

“Well why did you start a relationship with her then, if you had feelings for me?” she asked tersely.

Gilbert blushed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

“Shit” he mumbled almost to himself.

“I was……I was…...” he stammered. “……Shit” he said again.

“You were horny!....... Is that what you were going to say?” Anne hissed angrily at him and withdrew her feet from his lap and hands, she leant forward and glared at him “How could you have a relationship with her if you were supposedly in love with me……. was it just for sex Gilbert? I mean it took you all of about three minutes between kissing her for the first time and shagging her!......”

“No Anne! I……” he tried to interrupt.

“I saw you that evening you know……. I saw you kissing her against your bedroom door……just like you do with me……. I saw you kissing her and then going into the bedroom together…….” She whisper shouted at him.

“Anne……. I was 17 and stupid” he finally managed to get in, he reached out for her to try and stroke the tops of her arms to calm her down, but she batted his hands away.

“That is no excuse Gilbert! I didn’t make any mistakes like that when I was 17, I didn’t just have emotionless sex with one of my friends, when they were in love with me”.

Gilbert ran a hand through his hair “Are you joking?........you cannot be serious……..that is exactly what you did with me in Antigua……how can you throw that at me……….’Miss Noemotions,norelationship,justsex!’…….I was completely, irrevocably in love with you when we made our agreement in Antigua…….it’s almost exactly the same…..except you were 27 years old and not a stupid teenager!”. He said somewhat petulantly.

“That is not the same thing and you know it Gilbert Blythe, we were both fully aware of what we were getting into………Josie cared for you…….it was written all over her face and you used her”. She huffed and folded her arms across her bump, looking away crossly.

He sighed and reached out for her again, trying to deescalate the situation. This time she stood up out of her chair and walked away from him, turning her back to him and looking out at the sea view.

Jesus what was it with this hotel? Every time he had been here with a girl, he had had a row with them. He stood up and followed her over to the railing, that separated the hotel from the beach, and put one hand lightly on her shoulder.

She turned slightly and looked at him with a steely gaze, “Did you love her?”

“I was fond of her……..but I never felt anything for her like I do for you” he said gently, trying to reassure her.

“Fond? What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I cared for her, but I didn’t love her like I do you for heaven’s sake!”

“But you told her you loved her! I can remember her coming into Geography and telling us all……that you had said ‘I love you Jose’” She did an accurate impression of his voice “…….how could you do that if you didn’t really love her?”

He rolled his eyes and ran his hands through his hair. “Look, I’m sorry Anne……I was 17, stupid, and yes, probably horny. I know what I did was wrong, but I was hopelessly in love with the one girl on the planet who wasn’t interested in me……Josie, literally threw herself at me…….and quite honestly……..I was pissed off because I had just seen you snogging Billy Sodding Andrews on my frickin porch”.

Anne turned and stared at him. He swallowed thickly, not knowing how she was going to respond to his admission.

“You got with Josie……. because you were jealous of me kissing Billy Andrews?” she whispered.

“I’m not proud of it but……..Yes”.

“Really?”

“Yes!........ I thought I never stood a chance with you, you didn’t even want to be my friend……...let alone anything more, but that didn’t stop me loving you”. He looked away to the shoreline and then back at her, real sadness in his eyes. “I made a mistake Anne……. a huge one. When Josie launched herself at me that evening, all that was going through my head were my memories of you……...as she was kissing me……. I was thinking about when you hit me……...and when you called me ‘Gil’ for the first time……...how it made my knees go weak…….that day at the lake, I thought you were going to forgive me……..I practically begged you to forgive me and you wouldn’t and it nearly broke me Anne……. I am in no way saying it was your fault, but I was so conflicted, and confused……..and I take full responsibility for my actions……. I know what I did was wrong. I know I made a mistake that night……that I should have stopped it……...and I should not have led Josie on……...or had a relationship with her when I was so in love with you. I tried to make the best of it though, tried to make it right, by asking her to be my girlfriend instead of just a one-night stand”. He chewed his lip and ran his hands through his hair. “But It broke my heart to see you kissing Billy that night……and I made a bad decision……but it was always you Anne.”

She stood there silently staring at him, her eyes flitting between his.

She suddenly reached forward and grabbed his tie, pulling him towards her so quickly and powerfully that he nearly fell over. She crushed her lips against his and kissed him passionately, her hands raking through his hair, destroying any kind of style he had arranged it into. She pushed him backwards so that he was pressed against the balustrades as she fiercely kissed him.

“Anne……” he breathed and grabbed her waist pulling her body as close to his as he possibly could.

Still holding onto his tie, she started to pull him backwards towards the steps that led down to the beach.

“I love you; I love you so fucking much…... I need you now Gil……. I cannot wait any more……not another fucking minute”. She turned and pulled him down the steps and onto the sand under the veranda. In the darkness, she lay down on the sand and dragged him with her with his tie, and resumed kissing him, her hands all over his body.

“Anne……. we have a room upstairs and Joy is with Marilla……...” he laughed between kisses as she pulled his shirt out of his trousers with one hand and fiddled with his trouser fastenings with the other.

“No!......I want you now……here……...no more talking, get your trousers off”.

“Fucking hell Carrots…… life is never dull with you” he laughed quietly.

She rolled him swiftly over so that he was lying on his back on the sand, she yanked his trousers and boxers down and lifting her dress up as she did so, straddled him.

He looked up at her surprised when he realised that she wasn’t wearing any underwear under her bridesmaid dress.

“Jesus……fucking hell Carrots,” he gasped; his voice laced with lust for his fiancé “Have you been like this all day?” he breathed.

“Yeah……so just shush up and take me now!”

He didn’t need telling twice.

Xx

“Shit, do you think anybody heard us?” Anne laughed her hands covering her face, she was still sitting in his lap as he lay gasping for breath, on his back in the sand.

“I don’t fucking care……. that was amazing carrots” He sat up and kissed her lazily “You are amazing”. He deepened the kiss and holding the back of her head, kissed her passionately. She moaned again and ran her hands through his hair holding his head in place.

“I don’t know what suddenly came over me” she giggled, swinging her leg off him and sat next to him on the sand, pulling her dress down over herself.

“I do” he winked at her cheekily, as tried to right his shirt and tie, that he hadn’t bothered to take off and pulled his now crumpled trousers back up. ”No panties all day…….you vixen you…..it’s a good job I didn’t know……..I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off you all day……in fact I won’t be able to keep my hands off you for the rest of the evening” he practically panted into her ear, sending a shiver of anticipation down her spine.

He stood up and helped Anne up with him, they wandered out from under the veranda, she pulled him into an embrace as they staggered around giddily together, laughing and kissing.

“I think I can guess what you two have been up to”.

They both jumped as they heard Fred’s voice from behind them. Anne blushed bright red and Gilbert just laughed as he tried to brush the sand out of his hair and off his jacket.

“Shit Fred, you made me jump…….er how long have you been there?” Anne asked still red faced.

“Not too long……. fortunately,” He laughed “Di sent me to check that you are ok, you had been gone so long”.

“We are all good thanks, no need to worry” Anne chuckled falsely, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“We are more than good……...we are fucking fantastic!” Gilbert laughed, bushing the sand off Anne’s dress for her.

“Lalalala” Fred sang, putting his fingers in his ears, and turning to walk back to the party. “I’ll leave you two to it then”.

Once they were alone again, Anne laced her fingers through Gilberts and looked up at him “I’m sorry about before…….I have no right to be cross with you…….I think, I’m just cranky, what with the hormones and being ragingly horny” she stroked her baby bump with her free hand and pulled him along with their joined ones. “Let’s take a walk along the beach Gil”. He nodded mutely at her and followed her towards the shore.

They strolled in silence for a few minutes.

“So, if you didn’t have any feelings for Josie, why did you get so wasted at their wedding?”

“It was nothing to do with the wedding as such………that was entirely coincidental” he said softly, looking out to sea.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, that was the day that I nearly gave up on us” he smiled sadly at her.

She squeezed his hand and tucked a messy curl behind his ear “Gil I……”

“It’s ok Carrots……...When you asked me the night before the wedding how long I wanted you for, I told you that I wanted you to stay ‘forever’……...and I meant it. Of course, you assumed I was joking………and then you said I should go out and ‘party’ or effectively go out and get randomly laid. I told you I just wanted to be with you…….I was about to tell you how I felt…….that I was in love with you……It was the first time that we had both been single at the same time for years, I was so utterly exhausted after my exams and so happy to see you, to hold you in my arms……..I was about to tell you, and then you started emphasising what a good ‘friend’ I was, ‘Best Friend Forever’ I think is what you said” he chuckled sadly “I suddenly realised that what I meant when I said ‘forever’, was very different to what you meant when you said ’forever’”.

“Gil, I’m so sorry…….I was so clueless…..I should have listened to my heart and not my stupid head”.

“Honestly, it’s ok, but you asked me so I will tell you”, he sighed and kissed her softly to reassure her. “It was like you had some kind of sixth sense or a ‘Gilbert Blythe Is Catching Feelings’ radar……and every time I plucked up the courage to tell you…… I was literally on the verge of just saying it, and you would trot out the old ‘F’ word…….’friends’”.

He laughed genuinely now and Anne put her hand across her eyes and softly shook her head.

“I loved that word to start off with, when you offered me your hand on Barry’s Hill, all those years ago. When you finally forgave me, I was the happiest boy in Canada to be your ‘friend’. But as the years went on, I came to hate that word…….it was usually prefixed with ‘just’, or ‘only’………or some other kind of belittling adverb, that put me firmly in my place……. But the night before Josie’s wedding you said ‘Dr Gilbert Blythe…….my best friend forever’………I felt like my fate had been sealed, and I was doomed to be only ever that to you……’just’ a friend. I felt like my world was crashing down………I gave up and just went to bed and cried myself to sleep”.

“Gil” Anne now wept herself and he softly embraced her.

“Do you want me to stop, I don’t want to upset you”.

“No Gil, we need to talk, to get everything out in the open, that’s where we went wrong before.” He wiped her tears away and continued to walk along the beach, holding her hand.

“I woke up in the morning, and realised you had gotten into bed with me, your head was on my chest, your arm around my waist and of course, your freezing cold feet were tangled up with mine. Our bodies pressed together at every point possible. We were like lovers Anne. Not just lovers, but soulmates, we gravitated towards each other all the time, it was like your body was trying to tell you something……..I woke up so happy, to feel you in my arms, and then the words that you had said to me the night before came crashing in, and I felt the devastation all over again…….I suddenly couldn’t cope with being close to you anymore…….it was like my very soul was in torment and I had to simply get away. So, I just tumbled out of bed and went to the nearest bar that was open. My head was a complete mess……Fred was a great friend to me that day…..” he mused softly “ I think I would have drunk myself half to death if he hadn’t been there to stop me, and to stop me shagging the first girl that looked at me” he blushed. “I can’t really remember much else……I know I told Fred that I thought you would never want anything more than friendship with me, and that I had been deluding myself all of these years……. after that I was just hell bent on getting wasted to numb the pain……” He petered out, and smiled sadly at her.

She stopped walking and pulled him around so that he was facing her “I’m sorry Gil, it was I who was deluding myself, fooling myself into thinking that I didn’t feel that way about you, because it was safer to think that, rather than having a relationship with you and possibly losing you”. She smiled up at him “You were the one that was right though……. I do hate it when you are right” she laughed softly, and reached up onto her tip toes so that she could kiss him.

“I kind of did tell you how I felt though that night……. can you remember what I said to you?”

“I can” she whispered, tears in her eyes as she looked up at him “Say it again, say it again to me now Gil….”

“You will never lose me……I am yours forever”. He pulled her in and kissed her deeply and lovingly.

“I love you Gil, I love you so much……I am also yours forever. Whatever our souls are made of yours and mine are the same”.

“Did you just quote Wuthering Heights to me Carrots?”

Chapter Text

“This is all your fault Gilbert Blythe!”

“How in heavens name, can it possibly be my fault?”

“It was you who introduced me to him……...if it hadn’t of been for you, then this would not be happening………aaaarrrrhhh!..........I would be on a yacht in the South of France having afternoon fucking tea………. not trying to squeeze a basketball out of my hoo-ha!”

“I ‘introduced you’ to him when we were two, and it was definitely your choice to marry him, my old friend” Gilbert laughed, and looked up at her from between her legs. She could only tell it was him from his sparkling hazel eyes and the chocolate curls poking out from under his surgical hat, the rest of his face covered with a mask. He put a supportive hand on her shin “Come on Di……. you are nearly there”.

“But it hurts so much…….” She wailed, like a child “make it go away……. I can’t do it anymore……. you do it for me……...please Gilbert”.

“I would if I could……...can we have more gas and air please Nikki” he instructed the midwife who was with them in the delivery suite. She passed the mask to Diana, who grabbed it and breathed in the pain-relieving gas gratefully.

After inhaling deeply several times, she slammed the mask down on the bed and demanded “Shit, where the fuck is he!?”

“I can assure you that Anne is doing her best to get him here”.

“Have you ever been in a car with Anne Shirley before, she drives like a fucking loon!......they are probably lying dead in a fucking ditch somewhere” Diana cried. The midwife went to hold her hand and rub her shoulder soothingly.

Gilbert glanced up at her again “You don’t have to tell me……. why do you think I drive everywhere when we are together. The first time she drove me through the city I thought I was going to die in a ball of flames at the side of the road!” he chuckled.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow” Diana panted as another contraction ripped through her body, “Giiiiiillllbeeeert!” She screamed.

“It’s ok……just breathe…….it will pass over” he said calmly, reaching forward to hold her hand.

She screamed again and batted his hand away “Don’t you tell me to just fucking breathe……. I’d like to see a man fucking do this…….’just breathe’, my fucking arse!” she yelled at him.

“Diana Wright! I have heard better language coming from a sailor…… I thought you were supposed to be a lady” he chuckled.

She leant forward and clipped him around the ear with her hand, knocking his hat off and displacing his curls. “I’ll give you a fucking ‘lady’!” she yelled at him, her face bright red. “No wonder Anne hit you……you are completely fucking infuriating……...”.

He just smirked at her, and raised a cheeky eyebrow.

“That’s funny. You sound just like her……...you two really are kindred spirits” he said lightly.

“How can you be so fucking calm?”

“Would you rather I ran around the room in a panic as I am trying to deliver your baby? Or would you prefer a doctor who is control of the situation?”

She screamed again.

“I want Fred……. where’s Fred?” she sobbed.

Gilbert put a comforting hand on her knee, “Di you are ready to start pushing now, your cervix is fully dilated, your son will be with us soon” he said calmly and slipped his mask down under his chin and she could see that he was smiling warmly at her. He went to put his mask back on.

“No Gilbert, keep it off I need to be able to see you…….I need my friend……” she reached out for his hand and he took it and held it as she winced in pain again as another contraction ripped through her.

“Ok Diana push……. come on……. you can do it……..you are one of the strongest, most empowered women I know…….you are going to be an amazing mother” he said to her.

She squeezed his hand with all of her strength as she pushed and grunted.

“I would prefer it if you didn’t break every bone in my hand though, I do have surgery to perform this afternoon” he joked lightly.

She released the pressure on his hand but still kept hold of it.

“Here comes another one……push Di”.

“Aaaarrgh” she screamed throwing her head back in the effort. ”I’m going to fucking kill Fred!”

“Come on Di…….not long now”.

She screamed again as she pushed with all of her might, her beautiful black hair sticking to the sides of her face as sweat dripped down her face.

“Flannel please Nik.” Gilbert said, and the midwife dutifully placed the cold flannel on Diana’s forehead, and mopped her brow.

Diana weakly flopped back down on the bed, and placed her arm over her brow, closing her eyes.

“I can’t do it on my own Gilbert……..I can’t do it” she cried, her cheeks rosy with the effort.

Gilbert got up from the stool he was sitting on between her legs at the end of the bed, indicating to the midwife to take his place. He took the mask off that was dangling from his ear and discarded it in the bin. He went back over to Diana and scooped her limp body up from the mattress and held her in his arms, she weakly wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“You are not alone……I am here with you” he whispered to her. ”You can do it……I know you can……This is one of the most momentous events you will ever go through, and you will talk about this day for the rest of your life Di…….you can blackmail Freddy each and every day for the rest of his sorry existence, because he missed this” she smiled weakly at his words. ”You have been there for my Anne, almost since the day that she stepped foot on the Island, you helped to nurse me back to health……you are going to be the most wonderful mother…….so now it is my turn to be here for you, my old beautiful friend…….plus I cannot wait to see Fred try and attempt to change his first diaper!” He chuckled softly and released her from his embrace.

She winced and fell back onto the bed as another contraction gripped her. “Come on…..push Crow Head……” he smiled warmly at her, his eyes teasing, but carried on holding her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze of support. He stepped back to look between her legs “I can see the head Di…….you are doing really well” he grinned up at her, and her face lit up, tears in her eyes. “You are gonna be a Mommy soon” his eyes sparkled with happiness for her. The midwife got up off the stool so that Gilbert could sit back down between Diana’s legs, she could feel his hands on her, helping the baby to make his entrance into the world.

“Aaaaarrrgghh!” she screamed.

“Baby’s crowning”.

Diana screamed again “It fucking hurts” she shouted, “I am never having sex with that man again!” she yelled.

“Yeah, that’s what they all say……. but here we are, the human race continues.” Gilbert joked dryly. He was right, that was what nearly every woman said as the baby crowned.

“Gilbert…….!”

“Push Di………one more push and he’ll be here……you are doing so well”.

She pushed as hard as she could and she felt a fiery gushing sensation, and suddenly the room was filled with the distinctive cries of a new born. Gilbert quickly checked the baby over, that his oldest friend had just given birth too and then looked back up to Diana, her blue eyes wide and her cheeks rosy, but an anxious look on her face as she craned to see the child in his arms.

He smiled widely at her, “He’s just like Fred……red all over and complaining all the time”, he joked.

As he lifted the baby up, Diana held her arms out to him and he placed her baby into her arms for the first time. Her eyes fixated on her child as he waved his little pink arms around, and tears slipped down her face. she gently kissed her son’s head.

“Is he ok?”

“He’s perfect, we’ll get him checked over though”. He said taking off his bloodied gloves and placing a fresh pair on.

“He missed it Gilbert” she wept, half elated, half sad. Gilbert sat on the edge of the bed and put his arm around his old friend and pulled her in for a sideways hug, just as Fred came barrelling through the door, eyes wide, cheeks pink and sweat running down his forehead.

“He’s here?........I missed it?......oh Di, I’m so sorry” Gilbert moved out of the way so that Fred could look upon his child for the first time, his hand moved to cover his own mouth and tears appeared in his eyes. “He’s beautiful Di……...” he embraced both of them. “He looks just like me…...” he laughed.

“Poor bugger” Gilbert quipped, from the end of the bed as he helped Diana deliver the afterbirth.

Fred ignored him and took the baby in his arms as Diana lay back on the bed, happy but exhausted as she looked at her husband cradling their child, tears of happiness running down his face.

“I love you Diana Wright, I thought you had made me the happiest man on earth when you married me……. but now, you have made me happier than I could ever have possibly imagined……. thank you, my darling……. I am so sorry I missed it”.

“You only missed it by about two minutes man……...and there was a lot of swearing and she’s never having sex with you again mate” Gilbert laughed as the midwife took over cleaning Diana up and he stood at the sink washing his hands.

“Where the hell were you” Diana asked as the midwife took her observations and Gilbert popped his glasses on and checked them.

“There was a pile up on the main road……. Anne drove me here like a thing possessed……you should have seen her, taking every back route that there was, and my word, yelling at all the other drivers, she’s still as feisty as she ever was……” he chuckled.

“Where is she?........is she ok?” Gilbert asked concerned as he dried his hands and tossed the paper towel away.

“She is parking the car, she just dropped me at the entrance”. He turned his attention back to Diana and his son.

Not long after, a heavily pregnant Anne appeared in the doorway of Diana’s hospital room, her eyes wide and her cheeks pink, her red hair tumbling out of a messy bun, that sat sideways and skewwhiff atop her head. One hand supporting the underside of her own baby bump, the other one holding her back. Gilbert thought she had never looked more beautiful. Full of love for her bosom pal, not caring what she looked like or what other people thought.

“Is he here?……My dear sweet Diana……” she burst into tears as she saw her friend holding her new-born, feeding him from her breast, a radiant glow about her that only came with motherhood. Diana, looked up and cried happy tears and the two girls hugged and kissed as they used to when they were girls.

“He’s here my lovely” Diana giggled and sniffed.

Gilbert’s phone began to beep, and after taking it out and sighing, came up to Anne and kissed her softly on the cheek “I’ve got to get on I’m afraid, back to work for me” He kissed her gently on the lips and after hugging and kissing Diana’s cheek, he left the room with Fred in tow, who was going to collect Diana’s hospital bag from Anne’s car, giving the two women some time alone together.

“How was it?........how was the birth?.......” Anne asked, turning back to Diana, “I never went through labour with Joy, in fact I was unconscious when she was born……Gil even got to hold her before I did”.

“I guess he did with Fred Jr too……...” Diana smiled weakly and Anne stroked her hair off her face for her lovingly. “I’m not going to lie Anne……. It was awful……...the worst pain, but they say it is the ‘soonest forgotten’” she gazed back down at her baby. “I’m never going to be able to take my eyes away from him Anne……. I love him so much already.”

“He’s beautiful Di……..” she stroked the baby’s soft cheek with the back of her little finger and smiled down at him. “Motherhood is like no other love that you can feel……...don’t get me wrong, I love Gil with every fibre of my being, but holding his child in my arms is like nothing else, you find this whole new compartment in your heart, filled with love and fierce protection for your child and for their father. This little wee gem that that you have created together out of love that joins you together for eternity.” She said dreamily and stroked her bump tenderly.

“Anne?”

“Hm?” she answered transfixed with the baby.

“Gilbert was amazing……..it was him that got me through it, he was best friend and the best doctor in the world, all rolled into one” she smiled. “I couldn’t have done it without him”.

“I’m sorry, I was unable to get Fred here in time, it all happened so quickly”.

“It didn’t feel that quick to me” Diana laughed, raising her eyebrows and Anne laughed. “One minute I was at the store with my waters breaking all over the floor in the homewares department, and the next thing I was here……..just thank God Gilbert was already here on shift”.

Xx

Later that same evening, Anne lay propped up in their bed waiting for Gilbert to return from work. Joy was down for the night and Rusty had gone out on his nightly security detail.

She tossed her book to one side and fidgeted around in bed; she could just not get comfortable. She flopped her head back on the headboard and closed her eyes and sighed. After taking a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling and then looked over at the bedside clock. 0:56 it said.

“Where the hell are you, Gilbert Blythe?” she said to the empty room. He was an hour late. She was so proud of her soon to be husband, after what Diana had told her today, about how he had helped and supported her through her labour in the absence of Fred, all Anne could think about was how much she wanted to show him how proud she was of him.

She had fished his favourite lingerie of hers out of her drawer and had laid it on the bed ready to slip into it when she heard him coming through the door. She picked her book up again with a heavy sigh and read the same paragraph about ten times until she eventually heard his keys in the door. She closed her book and put it on the nightstand, and tried to get out of bed, she shuffled and hauled herself to the edge of the bed and was just rocking herself back and forth to try and get enough momentum going to propel herself off the mattress, when Gilbert opened the bedroom door.

He leant against the doorframe looking ridiculously handsome in just his scrubs, a smirk on his face. “Need a hand my love?” he asked, his smirk turning into a grin as she very inelegantly splayed her legs to try and get up. Her huge baby bump in the way.

“Yes, please……. don’t just stand there grinning at me”.

His grin turned into a loving smile as he hauled her up off the bed and kissed her tenderly. “I missed you Miss Shirley”.

“How was your day?”

“You know…..” he shrugged casually and looked up at the ceiling and back down again, his eyes dancing with merriment “…….Just saving lives and bringing new life into the world……just another average day at the office” he smiled and pulled her in for a deep kiss, that took her breath away. He felt her smiling at his silliness against his lips, so he pulled away from her with a long wet popping sound.

“Mmmmm……don’t stop” she said pulling him in again. She grabbed his shoulders and tried to pull him down onto the bed, but she just managed to fall onto the bed in a heap on her back, her centre of balance completely off.

“What’s this?” he asked, picking up the lacey green thong she had laid out on the bed and raising an eyebrow.

“I was going to surprise you…..but then it took me 40 minutes to get off the bed!”.

He hauled her up off the bed again “I could pretend to be surprised if you like”, he wiggled his eyebrows up and down at her suggestively.

“Ok” she giggled girlishly, and turned towards the bathroom to change “Er make yourself comfortable” she said over her shoulder.

He stripped off his clothes and jumped into the bed, covering himself over with the covers. He leant up against the headboard with a big silly smile on his face. This was the stuff of his teenage dreams, in fact, the stuff of his adult dreams too. He wagged his feet in anticipation as he awaited her return to the bedroom. Marilla was due to come and stay tomorrow for a couple of weeks, he intended to fully make the most of this opportunity, before his very nearly mother-in-law was ensconced in the next room.

“Urrgh!” he heard coming from the bathroom.

“Shit……stupid thing” he heard a few seconds later.

“Anne are you ok?” he called, leaning forward slightly in bed so he could hear her response.

“Urrgh!”

He climbed out of bed, and put his hand on the bathroom door to check on her.

“Gilbert Blythe, do not come in here!” she shouted.

“Anne, what’s going on……what the hell are you doing in there?”, he chuckled.

“These stupid frickin……” she grumbled crossly from the other side of the door “How on earth do people actually find these things comfortable?.......what the actual fuck!”

“Annnnne…….let me in……please?”

“Oh for fucks sake” he heard her sigh resignedly. “Ok……as long as you don’t laugh”.

“OK……I promise” he said, already smiling to himself.

He heard the door unlock and he opened it.

She stood in the middle of the bathroom in the lacey green thong, that he could barely see as her baby bump was covering most of it up. Her left arm was stuck in the air and her right arm was ravelled up in a lacey green baby doll nighty that matched the thong. The nighty was twisted around her neck and under one arm pit, refusing to budge an inch over her breasts, that were significantly enlarged since she had last worn it.

The smile he already wore on his face spread into a huge grin and he threw his head back and laughed, tears streaming down his face.

She rolled her eyes at him and looked annoyed. “You promised you wouldn’t laugh!”

“I’m sorry…….its just…….you look……” he tried to say, but he couldn’t stop laughing at her. He bent double and laughed so much he wasn’t making a sound, just slapping his hand against his own thigh.

She started flailing around again, trying to escape the confines of the barely there, sexy nighty, that was all strings and lace. This made it worse as far as Gilbert was concerned, she now looked cross and funny, all at the same time as she helplessly thrashed around, even turning around in a little circle, trying to free herself.

“Gilbert!”

He tried to sober his laughter, but he just burst out laughing again when he saw how cross she looked.

“I’m sorry……. but you are just so……..so…….you are just so cute when you are mad……it’s funny!” he lost it again laughing at her.

She just stopped her flailing, and sat down on the closed toilet lid, her bottom lip sticking out in a cute little pout. Her arm still stuck up in the air.

He managed to bring his laughter under control. “I’m sorry Carrots” he giggled again “Would you like some help?”

“You think!” she said hotly, her eyes all fiery, just the way he liked them.

“Ok” he laughed and started to try and help her to escape the tortuous nighty. He fiddled around with it from all angles, trying to work out how to free her from it, lifting her arm here and there, whilst she rolled her eyes at him.

He stopped fiddling with it and knelt down in front of her, he gave her his serious doctor face. “I’m sorry Miss Shirley, I have to tell you that following my examination and evaluating the test results, I am afraid to tell you that in my professional opinion that you are stuck, and you are just going to have to live the rest of your life like this” he smirked, unable to keep a straight face anymore.

She just looked at him sternly, the fire in her eyes sending a pulse of desire through his body.

“Oh, fuck it…….”. He put both hands on the fabric under her chin and suddenly ripped the flimsy material off her in one swift movement.

“Gil!” she gasped; her eyes wide, shocked. He had never ripped her clothing off before.

They both stared at each other for a beat, before they crashed their lips and bodies together, hungry for one another. He picked her up from the bathroom and deposited her on the bed, and made love to her not taking his lips from her once.

They kissed lazily together as they came down from their heights. Anne pulled back and looked at his dark eyes, and kissed him longingly and suggestively, he chased her lips as she pulled away again, desperate for more of her, but her hands on his shoulders pinned him to the mattress. She leant forward again and kissed him ever so lightly, and then trailed her mouth down his neck and softly kissed behind his ear. He groaned in pleasure again.

“Surprise” she breathed sexily in his ear.

“Jesus, you are fucking sexy”.

“That was my favourite nighty you just ripped Doctor Blythe”, she kissed him tantalisingly down his chest. He sighed in pleasure and she stopped her kisses just below his belly button. “You are a very bad man” she whispered looking up at him through her lashes, she continued her kisses, making his breath hitch.

“You’re going to make me pay for that, aren’t you?” he whispered.

“Yep” she emphasised the ‘p’ sound with a wet pop of her lips.

Needless to say, Dr Gilbert Blythe did not get much sleep that night.

Chapter Text

“Gil…….Gil……Gilbert!”

Gilbert rushed into the kitchen, his eyes on her baby bump and a panicked look on his face.

“What?” he gasped, putting his hands on her stomach and looking at her anxiously “Is it the baby? have your contractions started?” he looked at his watch, ready to start timing her contractions.

“No, no……..I forgot to get the candles” she whimpered.

“Jesus, you scared the shit out of me yelling like that” his face went pale “after last time.” He took her hand and directed her to sit on one of the dining chairs in their small kitchen.

“Well, we can’t have our daughters first birthday party without a candle for her……what are we going to do Gil?” she fretted., tears forming in her eyes “I’m a terrible mother……how could I forget her candle”. Anne had been an emotional wreck for the last couple of days, the stress of having another baby with Joy still so little was beginning to play on her mind. Gilbert was the most excellent and loving hands-on father that she could possibly hope for, but the cold hard fact was that he was at work for most of the time.

“Anne shush” he soothed, rubbing her shoulder affectionately “I’m sure we have something here we can use”. He rummaged around in the top cupboard that she couldn’t reach and came out with a pack of 12, six-inch candelabra style candles that they kept in case they had a power cut. “We can use one of these” he grinned.

Anne rolled her eyes “Don’t be silly. We can’t use one of those. They are much too big”.

“Yes, we can……look” he said opening the box and sticking the huge candle straight through the rabbit’s forehead on Joys beautifully made and iced bunny cake.

“Gilbert!” Anne screeched “You have just ruined the cake!”

“Joy won’t mind”.

“Yes, but I do!” It took me all day yesterday to make that cake!” she huffed crossing her arms over her baby bump and sulking.

He laughed at her, “Come on…..don’t be grumpy…….it’s our daughters first birthday, we have all of our family and friends here”. He knelt down in front of her and kissed her until she began to smile against his lips.

“Ready?” he whispered softly and she nodded. He quickly jumped up and pulled her up with him. His cheeks pink and his eyes glittering. He was more excited about Joys birthday party than he had been about his own 30th birthday party that Anne had thrown for him a month or so ago. He was practically bouncing up and down on his toes. He had insisted on having the full works for his daughter’s birthday, Jelly and Ice cream, little sandwiches, pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey and had been running around all week organising everything. As she was so heavily pregnant, Anne's only job was to make the cake and get the candles, which she had forgotten to do.

They could hear the happy chatter of their guests in the living room as Gilbert lit the massive candle in the middle of the cake and walked into the room holding it. Anne turned the lights down, which drew everybody’s attention to the arrival of the cake.

They all started singing Happy Birthday as Joy gaped at the huge cake, her little mouth forming an o shape, in awe of the size of the candle on the cake, her hands on either side of the high chair and her arms braced as she started to excitedly bob up and down where she was sat. Gilbert sang in his dreadful voice, making Anne smile at him and nudge him with her elbow as she sang along. Joy squealed with delight and clapped her hands together and grinned.

“Dada, Dada, Dada” she chirped.

‘Dada’ was her favourite word and she said it all the time, but especially when she was with her father and trying to grab his curls. Gilbert placed the cake in front of her as Anne affectionately watched on, a tear of happiness in the corner of her eye. Joys little face lit up and she started trying to blow the candle out by sucking instead of blowing, making everyone laugh. Gilbert showed her what to do and she started spluttering all over the cake, he subtly blew it out for her and everybody cheered and Joy clapped her little hands again and grinned around the room, happy to be congratulated for her accomplishment.

“Dada, Dada” she said pointing at the cake and bopping up and down again.

“Carrots, do you want to cut the cake?” Rusty jumped up onto the table. “No, not you, you berk” Gilbert laughed, lifting the cat straight off the table and passing the knife to Anne.

“DADA, DADA!” Joy shouted, excited to have her cake.

Anne cut a piece of bunny ear off the cake and placed it onto Joys high chair table. She grabbed it with both fists and rammed it into her mouth. “Lol, she’s just like her father” Fred quipped and Gilbert rolled his eyes. He was just about to come back at Fred with a witty response, when he heard a loud gushing sound and felt the bottom of his jeans get soaking wet. He looked over to Anne who was standing next to him, looking at the floor, the knife she was cutting the cake with still in her hand. His eyes followed hers to the puddle of amniotic fluid she was now standing in.

They looked back up at each other and both said “Shit” at the same time.

“Shit, shit, shit” Joy chirped next to them, with her mouth and fists full of birthday cake.

Gilbert gently took Anne's arm and Matthew pulled out a chair for her to sit on as Gilbert knelt down and examined what she had passed.

“There isn’t any blood is there this time Gil?” Anne asked him, ashen faced.

“No, its fine, don’t worry. It’s all amniotic” he said releasing a relieved breath. “Your waters have just gone, have you got any pain yet?”

She shook her head.

“Ok, well we need to get you to the hospital”.

“I’ll get her bag” Marilla said.

“Thanks, I’ll help her change into some dry clothes. Fred, do you mind driving us please?” Gilbert said helping her up.

“Yeah of course”, he said putting his tea down and putting his shoes on.

“And you, young lady……. watch your mouth” Gilbert turned to Joy and laughed.

Joy grinned at him, frosting all over around her mouth.

“Dada shit” she said.

“Just ignore her, she’ll soon forget it” Elsie laughed, wiping Joys hands and mouth clean. Gilberts parents were staying over for a few days in a local hotel “We’ll stay here with Joy, don’t worry about her……just get yourselves sorted. I’ll put the kettle on and make sure everyone has cake before they leave, and we’ll tidy up” she reassured Anne with a warm smile and a hug.

A few minutes later, Anne emerged from their bedroom in fresh clothes with Gilbert helping her, a concerned and loving look on his face. Everyone kissed and hugged them both goodbye and wished her good luck for the birth, and made Gilbert promise to keep them updated.

“DADA…….” Joy screamed and crumbled into tears as she always did when Gilbert went to leave the apartment, she pointed frantically at him and began to strain at her harness, trying to escape the high chair.

Gilbert rolled his eyes and rushed back to Joy, kissing her little wet cheek.

“Its ok Baba, Dada come back soon, Mama needs me now”.

She grabbed hold of Gilberts curls and wouldn’t let go, leaving clumps of pink frosting in his hair.

Bash came over and worked her little hands out of his hair. “Just go Blythe you are making it worse” he chuckled.

Joy screamed louder as he backed away from her, putting his arm around Anne to help her and closing the door behind him.

“SSShhhiiittt!!!” Joy wailed, and everyone left in the room tried their hardest not to laugh. Even Delly clapped her hand over her mouth, to try and smother her laughter.

xx

Early the following morning, whilst a windy golden sunrise was billowing and the birds were singing their dawn chorus, the same weary stork that had delivered the Wrights baby a week ago, flew over the Toronto General maternity ward on his way from the Land of Evening Stars. Under his wing was tucked a sleepy, starry eyed, little creature. The stork was tired, and he looked wistfully around him. He knew that he was somewhere near his destination and was ready to deliver his velvet babe.

Half an hour later Gilbert ran down the hall way to find a nervous and scared Marilla pacing the waiting room floor, her hands anxiously turning over themselves as she uttered a silent prayer.

“Marilla, Anne has sent me to tell you that a certain young gentleman has arrived here……. he hasn’t brought much luggage with him, but he evidently means to stay.” He grinned at her and started to lead her back to Anne’s room, unable to stay away from his fiancée and son for a moment longer.

“Is she ok Gilbert?.......and the baby?”

“She certainly is, she positively glowing Marilla!.......the baby weighs ten pounds and just listen to him!” he laughed heartily as he heard his son crying. “There’s nothing wrong with those lungs, is there? Audrey says that his hair will be red……..Anne is furious………but I am tickled to death” he laughed like a giddy child.

He rushed back into the room and perched himself on the bed next to Anne and kissed her cheek lovingly. Pride radiated out of his eyes, his cheeks flushed pink and his hand stroking Annes shoulder as he sat with his arm around her as she cradled their new child on the hospital bed all pale and rapturous.

Happy tears filled Marilla’s eyes as she took in the woman before her. How she had blossomed, from that little skinny waif with the spirit of a lioness that Matthew had brought home with him that day, to the wonderful, confident woman she had now become, with her own family. Two children and engaged to none other than Gilbert Blythe, the boy who, had it not been for her own foolish stubbornness, may have been her own son.

She gave Anne one of her rare but completely dazzling smiles, the very same dazzling smile that a certain John Blythe had fallen in love with all those years ago.

“Anne…..” she grinned “I’m mighty proud of you”.

Gilbert took the baby in his arms and passed his son to his grandmother. “He’s awfully like you both” she smiled as she gazed down at him.

“Oh Marilla, look at his dear little toes! Aren’t they just perfect” She gushed. Gilbert drew her into a sideways hug “Just look at his hands, Marilla”. Anne slipped her arm around Gilberts waist and hugged him back.

“They appear to be a good deal like hands” Marilla said crisply, trying to go back to her normal, no-nonsense self now that any danger was over. But she couldn’t help a proud smile from stretching across her face.

“Do you think……. you don’t think that his hair is going to be……. red, do you?”, Anne said and looked anxiously between Gilbert and Marilla,

“I don’t see much hair of any colour, and I don’t think you should worry about that now……..at least not until it becomes visible” Marilla tried to reassure her daughter, stroking the baby’s downy fluff on top of his head.

“But he does have hair!” she fretted “At least Audrey thinks he has hazel eyes and his forehead is exactly like Gil’s”

“Have you settled on a name?” Marilla asked.

“Yes……. Marilla, meet……. James Matthew……our little Jem, the most handsome little man ever” she said proudly and gave Gilbert a saucy side glance. Gilbert just smiled at her and chuckled, happy to be in second place behind his son.

Xx

Later that same day, Anne, Gilbert and baby Jem returned home with Matthew and Marilla. Marilla was due to stay for a few more days to help the new little family, but Matthew was due to fly back to Green Gables the following day, as he was unable to be away from the farm for more than a few days at a time. Diana and Fred who had taken Joy to their apartment for a sleep over with Fred Jr whilst Anne was giving birth, had returned to Anne and Gilberts place to welcome them home.

Joy was curled up asleep on Fred’s chest as they entered the house, but immediately woke up as soon as she heard her mother and father come home. She stretched her little body out and yawned, opening her eyes she looked for Gilbert.

“Dada?” she said.

Gilbert walked towards her carrying Jem as Matthew helped Anne down onto the seat next to where Fred and Joy were sat. “Joy…..this is Baby Jem, your new brother” he smiled proudly.

“Dada?” Joy questioned again, looking puzzled at what he was carrying in his arms. Her little brow furrowed in confusion, the same way her fathers did when he was confused or thinking hard about something.

Joy sat up on Fred’s knee so that she could see the baby’s face. Her face lit up when she saw what was in her father’s arms.

“Dada……. Baba” she pointed at the baby and scrambled over Fred’s knee onto Gilberts, trying to get closer. She couldn’t take her eyes off Jem. “Dada…...Baba” she said over and over again, getting more and more excited each time.

The adults chuckled and Anne and Gilbert shared a teary-eyed look, Anne softly smiling at him and she mouthed ‘I love you’ too him. To sit there and see him cradling their new born son, with their daughter on his knee too, made her feel overwhelmingly happy. It was worth every single heart break she had ever suffered in her life to be able to live in this moment. She swallowed thickly and tried to stop herself from crying with happiness, but her efforts were to no avail, as a big tear rolled down her cheek.

Gilbert smiled warmly back at her, his own eyes reflecting her happiness “I love you too” he said out loud, never afraid to say those words in front of his friends and family. He turned his attention back to the baby in his arms as Joy was leaning over Jem, trying to suck his nose.

“Joy, come here” he laughed, passing Jem to Diana who was keen to have her first cuddle with him.

“Oh Anne……. He’s beautiful……he has your eyes Gilbert, and he’s a lump like you……. ten pounds…...ouch!.” she winked at Gilbert and smiled down at the baby “…….and he has your hair Anne” she laughed, as Anne rolled her eyes and buried her face in her hands.

“I literally prayed every day that he wouldn’t be ginger” she said shaking her head.

Gilbert laughed “Well I prayed every day that he would…….I want him to be just as bewitching as his mother…….so ner!”.

Joy climbed off Gilberts knee and crawled over to where Diana stood, holding Jem and pulled herself up into a standing position using Diana jeans to hang onto. She wasn’t quite walking yet but was getting increasingly confident as she cruised around from one piece of furniture to another. Mary had warned them, that Joys walking was ‘going to be any day now…..and when they start walking…..that’s when the fun really starts!’ and had then chuckled smugly to herself.

Joy stretched her little arm up “Baba….. Baba” she said pointing at Jem.

“I think you have been replaced Gil” Anne laughed.

“Well at least I’ll be able to go to the bathroom on my own now” he joked.

There was a little clicking noise as Rusty came in through the cat flap, he got as far as the living room when Jem let out a loud cry. Rusty stopped, frozen to the spot, crouching on short legs and twitched his ears back. Jem let out another cry, and Rusty turned and fled back out of the cat flap from whence he had just come.

“I don’t blame you mate” Fred said, rubbing his eyes and looking exhausted, still adjusting to fatherhood himself. “I’d be off out the cat flap too, if I could fit” he joked.

“How was Joy last night?” Anne asked.

“She was great, slept through, like a log after all the excitement of her birthday” Diana passed Jem to Anne to feed as he had started to root. “It was this little one who was a pickle all night” she yawned, picking up Fred Jr who had just woken up too.

Joy climbed down from Di’s legs and crawled over to her mother and tried to climb up on the sofa, comically sticking one leg up at a ninety-degree angle to the rest of her body and standing on her tippy toes, still too small to make the climb. Gilbert scooped her up and sat next to Anne on the sofa, so that she could watch the baby feed. She snuggled into Gilberts hoody and sucked her thumb, content to just be back in her father’s arms.

Marilla and Matthew bustled into the living room with a tray of tea things and some freshly baked plum puffs.

“Marilla…..how?…..when?......when on earth did you get time to make those?” Gilbert laughed in wonderment. “How do you manage to just whip them up out of thin air?”

“An old family secret Mr Blythe” Marilla blushed as he stood up and took two off the plate and kissed her cheek.

“Thank you, so much” he said wolfing them. Marilla blushed brighter, she loved to see him heartily enjoying her food.

“An old family secret……..called ‘the freezer’” Anne laughed. “She preps them, and then freezes them, so she can just pop them in the oven and then they are ready at moment’s notice” she smiled lovingly up at her mother.

“Anne Shirley!” Marilla scolded her in jest.

“Well, he is going to be family come the summer” Anne grinned at him, and his eyes sparkled with love, as he brushed the crumbs off his chest and reached for another plum puff.

“Yeah, as long as he doesn’t get her up the stick again” Fred guffawed and Diana playfully hit his arm and shushed him, her head nodding towards Matthew who had now turned scarlet.

“Yes, well you had better not young man!” Marilla said sternly, causing Gilbert to choke on his plum puff and his cheeks to colour up.

“It does take two you know Marilla” Anne chuckled, feeling sorry for Gilbert. “Its just as much my responsibility as it is his”. Matthew had now turned practically purple and picked up one of Gilberts medical books that was on the side table next to him, to hide behind.

“Di and I have a day planned for dress shopping in the diary after Christmas, when our waistlines have reduced” Anne said excitedly as Diana put the third plum puff she was helping herself to, back down on the plate and pushed it away from herself. “The church is booked; I’ve emailed Rachel about the flowers. Cole is making the invites and other stationary to match for us…. I have a few of his ideas here Marilla” she said pulling her phone out and showing her.

“The barn is all good to go too” Matthew contributed. “Just got to put the lights up nearer the time.”

“Bash says he’s happy to do that for you Matthew, we don’t want any accidents before the big day” Gilbert added.

Anne and Gilbert had chosen quite a simple low-key event in the late spring, early summer, with the service being held in the little white church in Avonlea, with Reverend Allen leading the service. Rachel and Marilla were doing the flowers and food for the reception that was to be held at Green Gables in the old orchard and there was to be a barn dance held in the barn in the evening.

When Gilbert had tried to arrange somewhere for them to stay for their wedding night, Anne had thrust her nose in the air and demanded that she wanted to arrange it, as a surprise for him, he could arrange the honeymoon, but she was going to arrange the wedding night, End of! He had graciously acquiesced, but had then been pestering her constantly over the last few months, trying to wear her down, using all of his best tactics in his arsenal, to try and get her to tell him what she was up to.

He should have known better. This was Anne Shirley after all, and once the iron had entered her soul…… there was no negotiation to be had.

He loved her even more for it.

Chapter Text

Diana sighed and rolled over on Anne’s bed so that she was lying flat on her stomach, her chin propped up on her hand as she looked dreamily at Anne who sat at the little white dressing table in her east gable room, weaving her shiny red hair into rags and rolling them up atop her head. She reached out for the glass of bubbly that was on the night stand next to her and took a sip, before placing it back on the coaster that Marilla insisted on being used.

“I can’t believe it Anne Shirley……. here we are the night before your wedding. You are marrying the love of your life, the man of your dreams, this time tomorrow you shall be Mrs Gilbert Blythe……I knew it…….I always knew it would be him, that he was perfect for you…..” Diana excitedly squealed and jumped up off the bed and grabbed Anne up off her chair and waltzed her around the room in their nightdresses.

Anne laughed at her antics, as they span around together and then landed in a heap on Anne's narrow bed, a warm spring breeze making the delicate lace curtains flutter gently by the open window. Anne looked around her little room, so many years of happy dreams and maiden visions had happened in this room. She had sat by the window as she had dreamt of melancholy heroes on white steads and fair maidens, too many times to remember. And at its window she had knelt and prayed for Gilbert that awful, bitter night when she thought he was going to die. There were so many memories held within these walls of her girlhood room. So many vigils of both joy and woe. She had been lying face down on this very bed, in the depths of despair when Marilla had told her she could stay at Green Gables, that they wanted to adopt her, instead of just fostering her. She had lain in this very bed the night that she had returned from Toronto and ripped the pink heart necklace Gilbert had given her from her neck and cast it across her room, angry with him, thinking he had moved onto Winnie already. She had retrieved it from its dusty resting place underneath her dresser months later, after Joys birth and after confessing her love to Gilbert, and had had the delicate gold chain repaired. She planned on wearing it tomorrow, her wedding day.

“Mrs Gilbert Blythe……. Mrs Anne Blythe……Mrs Dr Blythe……” Diana mused. She turned her head to her bosom pal and smiled at her warmly, overjoyed that her two best friends were together at last.

“I can’t believe it sometimes either Di. “Anne sighed “I wake up in the mornings and for a few seconds as I come to consciousness, I fear it has all been a dream, that I will stretch my arm out to a cold and empty bed, and realise that he’s never been there……and never will be ……but then I hear him sigh or mutter something” she laughed “ and my heart swells, and the love comes crashing back to me, I can feel his warm arms around me…….or our legs are all ravelled up together”, she smiled softly almost to herself, lost in her own memories. “I open my eyes and look over to him, his hair is a mess……usually caused by me…….his lashes long and his brow relaxed…….his lips slightly parted, and all pink and kissable……or I wake up and he is kissing the freckles on my shoulder……..he always kisses me in the mornings and tells me he loves me, even when he has to leave at silly o’clock in the morning to go to work” she sighed. “God Diana, I love him so much” she swiped a tear away from her cheek and laughed at her own ridiculousness. “How did I get so lucky……. why me?.......I still don’t get it” she laughed shaking her head. “He could have any woman on the planet…...I just don’t get it”.

Diana sat up and smiled at her “Because my wonderful friend, you have made Josie Pye and Ruby Gillis and all of those other wishy-washy girls that have waltzed by him look like spineless nothings!” she laughed, and Anne rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but laugh softly “And of course you are stunningly beautiful, witty and beyond intelligent……. that lump needed somebody to keep him on his toes Anne Shirley, and that girl was and is…. you! Tomorrow you will be the bride of his dreams Anne…...your dress is a dream……” she said rapturously, “……you will look a perfect queen in it, and Gilbert won’t be able to keep his hands off you”.

“I remember the first pretty dress that Matthew ever bought for me, for our junior high prom, it was the frilliest, puffiest of puffed sleeved dresses that he could find……. I think he blushed for a week after buying that from the store,” Anne remembered fondly.

“You wore that dress to the recital evening as well……we had had to prepare a poem to recite remember? And Gilbert recited ‘Bingen on the Rhine’ and looked at you when he said. ’There’s another, NOT a sister’” she impersonated his voice perfectly, making Anne giggle “and you were furious because he picked up the rose that fell out of your hair as you left the stage and put it in his breast pocket! You didn’t much imagine then that you would ever marry him".

“Oh Di, I was such a silly little goose……. I can’t help but feel as though destiny has a part to play in it all, he is so my ideal. I think deep down I always knew that, and that’s why I was so horrible to him. I couldn’t let myself fall for him, because I knew that once I allowed myself to love him, there would be no coming back from it. So, I pushed him away, and used the unrealistic ideals of melancholy heroes as my armour, to protect myself from what was actually right at the end of my nose……. true love Di”. She sighed and smiled at her bosom pal and yawned, pressing the back of her hand against her mouth. “Sorry……. I’ve had such a busy day with the kids and getting things sorted. I’m completely exhausted”.

“Well at least Mary and Bash are on duty with the kids tonight so that you and Gilbert can both get a good night’s sleep……..and maybe not such a good night’s sleep tomorrow night” Diana winked and smirked at her. Mary and Bash had offered to have Joy and ‘Jem’ as everybody now called James Matthew, for a few nights at their place so that Anne and Gilbert could have a few days uninterrupted together following their wedding, before they all went away for a holiday together. Neither Anne or Gilbert wanted to be away from the children for too long.

“I’ll let you get to bed then my lovely” Diana said finishing her glass of bubbly and taking the glass with her she kissed Anne on the cheek and bade her goodnight, leaving the room to head for the Cuthbert's spare room. Anne had not wanted a hen night she had just wanted one last sleep over with her best friend and maid of honour the night before the wedding, Fred Jr was with a stressed-out Fred for the night.

Anne turned back to the dressing table and wound the last of her rags into her hair. Whilst she was just securing it atop her head, she heard a scraping noise just outside the open window, and froze as she saw a tanned hand appear on the window frame. She quickly turned and grabbed a book that was sitting on the book shelf next to where she was sitting, and raised it ready to hit the intruder, just as a familiar pair of legs swung around off the roof and in through her bedroom window and Gilbert Blythe rolled onto her bedroom floor.

“Gil!......what the!” she gasped and lowered the book she was holding, and rushed into his arms as he clambered up off the floor “Gil……what in heavens name are you doing?” she laughed quietly.

He pulled back from her slightly so that he could kiss her passionately. “I had to see you one last time before tomorrow…...I was missing my fiancée” he pouted briefly before resuming his kisses.

“You could have used the front door! You could have hurt yourself climbing over the roof, you loon!”

“I just wanted it to be us though Carrots……. I thought it was more romantic to come through the window.” He said brushing himself down. “Everything today has just been so mad getting ready for tomorrow, I haven’t had any time alone with you, I need my Anne fix”. He pulled her towards the bed and sat down with her and tenderly kissed her, lacing his fingers with hers. He raised her left hand to his lips and kissed her pearl engagement ring.

“I love my ring Gil” she said admiring it in the low light of her bedroom.

“I lived in daily fear of seeing a huge great diamond on this finger, when you were with Roy” he mumbled, glancing down and kissing her ring again “I was convinced he was going to propose to you when you were in Italy”.

“I think he was going to as well……” she confessed biting her lip and then a smile stretched across her face and she blushed. “I kind of upset him though……..” she smiled coyly at him and he raised a questioning eyebrow at her “……..I was in the bath…..and he came in, and I called him ‘Gil’”.

Gilbert gasped.

“So, you were in the most romantic country in the world, naked in the bath……and you said my name?”

“Yeah” she breathed, her green eyes looking unwaveringly into his.

“Were you thinking about me?”

“Yeah, I was imagining you washing my hair……..I thought about you a lot on that holiday, I can remember really missing you as I was away for a month and everywhere I went I kept thinking how much you would like it there. Roy was always so pretentious and stuck up, and would try to converse with locals in Italian, trying to impress me with how cultured he was, it was clear though that they had no idea what he was on about……it was just embarrassing. He of course blamed them, and said that they were ignorant.” She rolled her eyes. “I kept wishing I was there with you, so that we could lie in bed until lunch time talking and eating croissants in bed, getting crumbs everywhere, or stay up until the early hours in some tatty little bar somewhere, where the locals went to drink, and get drunk and splash around in the fountains on the way home” she smiled “and have a giggle at the size of the marble appendages on all of the statues in the museums” she laughed. “Roy was always so serious, and with him being so……” she held her fingers out and reduced the space between her fore finger and thumb, wincing “……. small……he quite naturally had no sense of humour about it”.

“Do you think that you purposely tried to sabotage your relationship with him……by saying my name?”

“I don’t know, maybe on some subconscious level…...but I had repressed my feelings for you so well……I didn’t think then that that is what I was doing…….I just wanted to be with you, and you were on my mind, so that’s probably why I said your name”. She ran her hand through his hair, curling her fingers behind his ear and then running her hand along his jaw she brought his face to hers and kissed him softly.

“That was the night that I facetimed you, and you were in the broom cupboard” she remembered.

“Oh yeah……you said Roy had gone off in a strop”.

“And when he did, all I wanted to do was talk to you. I didn’t care that he had stomped off, I was just glad that he was out of my hair for a few hours” a tear spilled out of the corner of her eye and she laughed softly as he kissed it away for her “I wasted so much time Gil……. I was so afraid of losing you…….and then when I got home, I ghosted you……..I think deep down I knew how I felt for you, and I knew that I had to pull away from you to try and make it work with Roy……I should never have done that……my head was such a mess.” She shook her head and he squeezed her hand softly. “It was when we had argued about you that he used to go off and ‘even the score out’ as he chose to euphemise it” she shuddered and pulled her into his warm arms, her body relaxing as she melted into him.

“I would have detested a diamond ring anyway…….” she said, referencing his comment about diamonds. “He did have one……he presented it to me when he proposed, the day that we split up…….you should have seen it, it was huge and garish…….yuck…….it embodied our relationship, everything everybody had told me that I could ever want……..but was actually vapid and hollow, without any colour or richness or depth, and ultimately disappointing”.

“I knew that……. I knew you hated diamonds and that was to be my only solace if I did ever see his ring on your finger” he said quietly as his thumb toyed with her engagement ring as he held her hands in his. “But I did worry Anne…...” he looked up at her with his beautiful hazel eyes, he still took her breath away, and her heart did its little ‘Gilbert Blythe Is Looking At Me’ flip flop that it had done since the day that she had met him, as he continued “…….I did worry when I was having it made, that pearls are for tears or so the old legend says” he confessed “But when I saw that I could have it made out of pearls that had been locally sourced here on the island, I knew it was right for you……..grown out of nature, out of the very fibre of this island…….here in this magical land that is our home, where I fell in love with you”.

She took his hands and kissed them “We must not be afraid of tears Gil, some of the happiest moments in my life have been when I have had tears in my eyes, tears of happiness……when Diana rang me to tell me that you were conscious again and were going to recover from the fever, when you placed Joy in my arms for the first time……. when you proposed to me and sang to me…….” She laughed softly and wiped a tear of happiness away with her shoulder “We must take joy and woe together Gil, for without one we cannot appreciate the other.”

“’And when this we rightly know. Through the world we safely go’”. Gilbert quoted.

She smiled blindingly at him “You remember?”

“I’ve told you before, I remember everything about you……..I can’t believe that there will be another ring on this finger tomorrow” he whispered, kissing the ring again and then turned her hand over so that it faced upwards, and kissed her palm and the inside of her wrist, making her breath hitch. Even after being with him in a loving, physical relationship for nearly 18 months, he still managed to take her breath away every time he touched her, it was like there was an electrical force that drew them together and fizzed and sparked whenever they were close to each other. He looked up at her through his dark lashes “My ring……. I give thee my troth…….” He kissed her wrist again “………to love and to cherish………with my body I honour you” He drew her in, his hand sliding behind her neck and he kissed her passionately and pressed her backwards onto the bed. “Forsaking all others……...I give myself only unto thee” he murmured in her ear and then kissed her again.

“Gil” she whispered as she raked her hands through his hair and wrapped one of her legs around him as they lay on her bed together.

He drew back and slowed their kisses down “I can’t wait to marry you Carrots” He kissed her with a feather lightness on her lips.

“I shall just slip down and meet you at dawn, and we can go together to the heart of the beech woods and there, under the green arches that would be like a splendid cathedral we say our vows only to each other, with the fairies and dryads as our witnesses as the sun rises……I can’t wait either Gil……I love you so much” she leaned up and pulled him back down to meet his lips in a searing kiss.

“I love you too Carrots……. that sounds wonderful and romantic, but that would really piss our friends and families off that are waiting in the church”. He smiled against her lips and then sighed contentedly pulling back from her and they lay in each other’s arms, her head on his chest and Gilbert gently kissing the top of her head and his fingers fiddling with the rags in her hair. She heard him softly laugh and she looked up at him only to find his eyes drifting around her room, just as hers had earlier.

“Do you have any idea how many times I dreamt of doing this over the years? Of climbing through your bedroom window? Even that first night that I met you, when I had called you Carrots. I tossed and turned all night, my heart hammering away, trying to figure out a way to charm and beguile you into liking me and forgiving me. I even considered climbing through your window that night to try and talk to you……I even got out of bed and got dressed” he laughed “It was only the thought of climbing through the wrong window and being confronted by Matthew …..or worse Marilla, that stopped me from doing it” he chuckled, holding her tighter.

“Really?” she laughed, “I would probably have hit you again with my atlas if you had” she craned her neck up to look at the abandoned book on the floor she had dropped a few minutes earlier “Oh my God, look!” she gasped and pointed at it, it was the same slightly bent out of shape atlas “I was just about to hit you again with the same book!”

He chuckled as he saw the book on the floor. “We should save that and give it to Joy when she gets starts talking about boys” he laughed. They snuggled back down again together on the bed, their legs all tangled up together as they usually did.

“So, you thought about me in my room, did you?” she arched an eyebrow at him and heard a deep rumbling chuckle in his chest.

“God yeah” he admitted freely “I was completely obsessed with you. I thought about you all the time…. did you ever think about me?”

“Yeah, but not like you, you perv” she smiled against his chest and she heard him chuckle again. “I used to imagine you sitting at a desk studying, and I used to imagine you getting cross and pacing around because I beat you in a test”.

“Oh, that’s a bit lame……. never anything saucy?”

“Well maybe after you rescued me from the Lake of Shining Waters……. you were the first guy I had ever seen in so little clothing”.

He chortled “Did I set the bar quite high Carrots?”

“Honestly……...yeah” she laughed and blushed into his chest “I can honestly say that any guy I ever saw naked after that, I would immediately compare them to how you looked that day……. you would pop straight into my mind and I would think ‘Oh……. not as nice as Gil’”.

“Really?” he said sounding pleased with himself.

“Yeah, definitely”.

“What do you think would have happened between us if I hadn’t have called you Carrots that day? Do you think we would have been friends all the way through school?” he wondered out loud and kissed her temple lovingly.

“I don’t know really……..I would like to think so, I do regret it Gil……I wish we had been friends for all of those years”.

He turned on his side so that he was facing her. “If I had asked you out on a date, would you have said yes?” he whispered, his eyes sparkling as they gazed into hers intently.

She smiled coyly at him “I don’t know……you were the ‘swoon’ worthy ‘Gilbert Blythe’ after all, and all the girls wanted to date you…….so maybe”.

“I still am Gilbert Blythe” he said lowly, glancing down at her lips, she felt a fission of electricity flash down her spine.

“So you are……..and you still make me swoon” she whispered back as he glanced back up to her eyes, his eyes dark, his pupils blown. He couldn’t resist anymore and kissed her passionately.

She slowed their kisses down and placing her hands on his cheeks she pulled his face away from hers. “I think you only wanted me because you couldn’t have me Dr Blythe”.

“I can have you now …….and I still want you……more than ever” he said cocking a cheeky eyebrow up at her and glanced down at his pelvis. She swatted him lightly on his bicep and kissed him softly.

“So, if you had asked me to date you back then and I if had said yes, where would you have taken me on our first date Gilbert Blythe”.

“I probably would have taken you to the roller rink on an 80’s disco night” he immediately replied, his eyes earnest and eager. He had spent many an hour imagining how he would ask her out and where he would take her when he had been 14 years old.

“But I can’t skate”.

“I know……. that’s exactly why I would have taken you there…….so I could have an excuse to hold your hand” he reached for her hand and laced their fingers together and bringing her hand to his lips kissed her fingers. “I would have insisted on paying, I would have bought you a cherry coke and one of those God awful cheap and nasty hotdogs that you like……"She looked up at him adoringly and giggled “I would have held your hand on the walk home, and asked if I could kiss you when we got back to Green Gables…..although around the corner in case Marilla was watching out the window for us” he wiggled his eyebrows at her and glanced over his shoulder at her bedroom door, as if he was afraid of getting caught in Anne's bed now with her.

“I think I would have quite enjoyed that date……. although Ruby would have been an issue. None of us girls were allowed to talk to you…..Ruby had first dibs.” She said seriously as though their girlish pact was still in place, the night before she was about to marry the object of her friend’s infatuation.

“Ok. Fair enough……. I know how seriously you take your sun and moon enduring packs……. although I could think of a lot of other things, we could have done together under the bleachers that don’t involve much talking…...and thus not breaking said pack” he said lightly.

“Really? What would you have done with me Gilbert Blythe?”

“I can show you if you like……. but remember…….no talking” he whispered as his hand wandered up the inside of her nightdress and his fingers grazed her thigh.

“Jesus Gil……”

“No talking Miss Shirley” his hand reached the top of her thighs and she gasped.

“But Marilla!” she said faintly and unconvincingly.

“Shush, no talking” he laughed softly again against her ear.

“My God Gil” she gasped and wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders and threw her head back.

“Do you understand the concept of 'no talking' woman” he laughed quietly.

“I can’t help it…..l, stop teasing me then” she begged. She grabbed him and pulled him closer.

“No, we are saving the good stuff until tomorrow night my love……our wedding night”.

“Gilbert! Please” she gasped.

“Are you ready to tell me where we are going tomorrow night yet?” he asked and kissed her deeply.

“No” she said firmly, against his lips.

He started to withdraw his hand, but she grabbed it to stop him.

“You are such a fucking tease” she groaned.

“Yeah, and I’m gonna be your fucking tease for the rest of your fucking life tomorrow……so you had better get used to it Carrots” he whispered lightly to her.

“A tease you say? Just you wait Gilbert Blythe……I’ll show you what a real ‘fucking tease’ is tomorrow night…..I can’t wait to show you what I’m going to wear to bed……..I think you are going to like it…….a lot!”

Chapter Text

Anne woke up on the morning of her wedding day to find the sunshine winking through the window of the little porch gable room and a summer breeze frolicking with her curtains. She stretched her arms out to feel for him in her bed, but it was cold and empty where he had lain last night as she had contentedly drifted off in his arms. A warm and happy smile stretched across her face as she remembered what day it was, why her bed was empty, and why he had presumably climbed back out of her window before Marilla’s grandmothers clock had struck midnight in the kitchen downstairs.

Today was her wedding day.

Today was the day that she was going to marry him……. Gilbert Blythe.

She stretched her body out and felt a note on her pillow. She raised her self-up on one arm and opened it up.

‘I still love you’ written in his remarkably tidy doctor’s scrawl, she smiled to herself and picked her phone up from her bedside table.

[Anne]: I still love you too……. you loon. I presume you made it home safely last night and are not lying in a crumpled heap in Marilla’s June lilies underneath my window.

[Gilbert]: All safe and sound for you Miss Shirley

[Anne]: You won’t be able to call me that tomorrow

[Gilbert]: I know that’s why I said it.

[Gilbert]: So no cold feet then?

[Anne]: Haha.....Never

[Anne] The only cold feet I have is those which I shall be putting on you in bed tonight.

[Anne]: You?

[Gilbert]: Never, I would have married you on your 16th birthday given half a chance.

[Gilbert] I’ll see you at the altar………I can’t wait for you to be Mrs Blythe.

[Anne]: I love you Gilbert Blythe, even if you are a weirdo xxx

[Gilbert]: I love you too Miss Shirley xxx

[Gilbert]Ps......Where will you be putting those cold feet tonight?......over my shoulders? 😜

[Anne] 🤭😍

Anne laughed softly and slid her phone under the duvet as there was a soft knock on the door, and Marilla entered with a tray of breakfast for her.

“Good morning, Anne” she smiled softly as she placed the tray over Anne's knee. ”How did you sleep?”

“Quite well thank you Marilla”.

Marilla smirked at her and wiped her hands on her apron that she was wearing. “I trust Gilbert got home safely…….and didn’t hurt himself climbing all over the roof last night?”

Anne immediately coloured up but couldn’t help laughing.

“He could have used the front door Anne, I am not quite as old fashioned as you think you know, and you do have two children together for heaven’s sake!”

Anne laughed “He thought it rather romantic apparently to climb through my window on the eve of our betrothal”.

“Fiddlesticks!” Marilla sighed rolling her eyes and shaking her head, “Romance indeed! He could have hurt himself”

“All is well Marilla, don’t worry”.

Marilla perched on the edge of the bed and smiled lovingly at her daughter, who was heartily tucking into her breakfast not a fragment of nerves or hesitancy about her countenance.

“No nerves this morning then Anne?” she asked a smile on her face.

“No why would I be nervous, I’m marrying Gil” she said through a mouthful of eggs.

She looked up to see a few tears in Marilla’s eyes. She moved the tray to one side and scooched forward in the bed, to wrap her mother in her arms.

“You’ve grown up so quickly and mighty fine, so tall and elegant” she smiled at her, tucking a red curly strand that had worked its way out of its rag, behind her ear. “. I know I don’t say it often enough…... but you are so beautiful Anne, and Matthew and I are so proud of you……...and adopting you was the best decision I have ever made”. Anne hugged her even tighter and a tear slipped down her cheek.

She heard a bubble of laughter escape Marilla’s chest and Anne pulled back to see one of Marilla’s rare but dazzling smiles.

“You were such hard work when you arrived here……..I thought you were positively a heathen……..Do you mind the time you dyed your hair, Anne?” she laughed, resting her forehead against Annes, who chuckled through her tears.

“And I went downstairs and Gil was in the kitchen and saw me” Anne rolled her eyes and wiped her happy tears away with the back of her hand. “How my red hair used to vex me so” she laughed softly.

“Well at least he knows what he is letting himself in for” Marilla chortled “He is about the only one who does”.

“That is true Marilla” she laughed “I think he knows me better than I know myself sometimes……and it really irritates me that he does” She grinned. “Thank you, Marilla, for everything that you and Matthew have done for me, if you hadn’t of taken me in, I would never have met Gil. I probably would never have ended up going to Redmond and getting my degree……. I owe you so much”. She kissed her affectionately on the cheek.

“You are such wonderful young woman Anne, everything that you have accomplished has been down to your hard work, sheer determination and your wonderful imagination……. I’m not surprised Gilbert fell in love with you…. the way you used to wander around in a dream like state, your face turned towards the sun, imagining all sorts of nonsense” Marilla reminisced fondly.

“Keep your face turned towards the sun and the shadows will always fall behind you” Anne quoted.

“It is you who have been a ray of sunshine in mine and Matthews lives. Adopting you has been the best thing that I have ever done……you have made me laugh……you have made me cry…….with happiness most of the time……and if I had my time again, then the only thing that I would do differently would be adopt you earlier Anne, so that you didn’t have to endure all of those other foster homes. You have changed all of our lives……in fact you have changed all of Avonlea……. even Rachael Lynde!”. Anne giggled and wiped a tear away from her cheek. “’A cruel unfeeling woman indeed’” Marilla laughed out loud and shook her head softly. “I will never forget the horrified look on her face when you called her that”. Marilla rolled her eyes, but her dazzling smile gave her away “She would defend you with her last breath now, she loves you like a niece” Marilla smiled fondly at her daughter. “Come on now, no more tears” Marilla stood up and wiped her hands on her apron again “Eat up ……...you have got a big day ahead of you” she said pointing to the tray of breakfast “Rachel and I are downstairs getting on with the food and Matthew is finishing up in the barn with Bash”. Anne nodded and smiled softly and returned to eating her breakfast.

Marilla returned to the kitchen just as Rachel was pouring the tea out of the pot and pushed a cup in front of her as she sat down at the table quietly, her mood sobered. Rachel looked at her old friend across the table.

“I’m giving Anne and Gilbert an apple leaf bed spread for their wedding gift, she tells me they are becoming real fashionable again” Rachel said as she stirred two heaped teaspoons of sugar into her cup of tea “Fashion or no fashion, I don’t believe that there is anything prettier for a spare room than a nice apple leaf spread, and it’s an island tradition, my grandmother made one for me when I married my Thomas” she sighed heavily, her eyes misting with tears as she remembered her recently lost husband. Marilla reached over the table and gently squeezed her old friend’s hand, and they smiled fondly at each other. “They may be living in Toronto now, but you mark my words Marilla, it will not be long until the doctor and his good lady wife will return to the Island to raise their family”.

“Well, that will be up to them Rachel, there is no use in pressurising them”.

“I am just thankful that Anne has come to her senses and is marrying Gilbert…….it is what I always prayed for” Rachel said in a tone of one who was comfortably sure that her prayers have availed much. “it was providence I tell you, those two were matched since they were children……It was a great relief to find out she wasn’t going to marry that Kingsport man” Rachel screwed her nose up in distaste, “he was rich for sure and Gilbert may be poorer - but he is an Island boy” she finished as if she couldn’t be prouder of Annes choice of husband, she crossed her arms and positively glowed.

“He’s Gilbert Blythe,” Marilla said contentedly and took a sip of her tea. Marilla would never put into words the thought that was always in the back of her mind, had it not been for her own wilful pride long, long ago when she had refused John’s proposal, he might have been her son. Marilla felt that in some strange way, his marriage with Anne would put right that old mistake. Good had come out of the old bitterness of her own folly. “He has loved her since the day that they met……. I could not be happier for her Rachel. He’s a good man and Matthew and I know that he will look after her and make her happy”.

Rachel smiled comfortingly at her friend. She had known Marilla Cuthbert for the best part of sixty years and as she sat and watched the ghosts of her past flit through her old friend’s eyes, she knew what Marilla was thinking without her having to articulate it. She had been by Marilla’s side back then, when she had quarrelled with John Blythe, and when he had gotten down on one knee and begged her to forgive him and become his wife. She had seen the hurt in Johns eyes, and the way that Marilla’s pride and stubbornness refused to give way to his pleas. Like the good friend that she was, Rachel had assured Marilla that he would come back for her, that when he returned from his stint in the Navy, that he would return and all would be right again between them.

But alas, she had also been the friend who had picked up the pieces when Marilla realised that John was not going to come back for her, but that he had moved on, and had met the love of his life in England. Returning to Canadian shores not with Marilla in his heart, but with a new beautiful bride called Elsie and a son already on the way.

“Where have the years gone Rachel?……I wish I could freeze time, back when she arrived on my doorstep….that funny little girl……I feel like I am losing her forever” Marilla sighed and fiddled with the handle of her tea cup.

“You are not losing her Marilla……you are gaining a son”.

The two old women looked at each other across the table and Marilla smiled softly, knowing what her old friend was saying without her having to actually say it.

xx

It was a happy and beautiful bride who came down the homespun carpeted staircase that spring morning – the first bride of Green Gables, slender and shining eyed, her arms full of white roses. Her white dress was stunning, with a floral lace bodice with matching lace motifs hidden in the full tulle skirt. It had a sweetheart neckline and a low back with romantic off the shoulder lace straps, which showed off her milky freckled shoulders. She knew that Gilbert had a thing for kissing her shoulders so she wanted a dress that showed them off to him. Her hair flowed in soft curls loose behind her, in a half up half down do, a small arrangement of wild carrot flowers securing it up behind her head with a tiny wild carrot nestling in the centre of it, a few wisps of her red curls framing her radiant face. she wore the delicate pink heart necklace he had given her around her neck.

“Anne, you look so beautiful” Marilla gushed uncharacteristically, her cheeks flushed and a dazzling smile stretching across her face. Matthew by her side, his blue eyes twinkling with pride and a tear rolling down his cheek. Anne smiled at them and blinked furiously, determined to not ruin her makeup before Gilbert saw her. She hugged each of them fiercely and then held out both of her arms which they took either side of her and walked her out of the Green Gables door together, for the last time as Miss Anne Shirley.

Chapter Text

Gilbert fiddled nervously with his tie, Diana had dropped it around to his house early that morning, it matched Anne's dress and was white with a floral lace design on it. He ran his hands down it, feeling suddenly comforted by it, he studied the lace pattern on it and tried to imagine what Anne would look like in her wedding dress. How many times he had imagined this day. Sometimes with his heart breaking as he had imagined her walking down the aisle on another guy’s arm, whilst he was forced to sit and endure their nuptials from the seat in the congregation, but more recently he had imagined it with his heart racing and as light as a feather as she swept down the aisle towards him. He closed his eyes as he tucked the tie into his soft grey waistcoat, he opened them and studied his reflection in the mirror. He wondered what would have happened if he had not have gone to Asia and become unwell, would Anne ever have realised that she loved him? Or would he still be stuck in some cold alternative reality where she had never realised what he meant to her and had never told him about Joy? He shook his head to try and dispel those thoughts.

Today was his wedding day.

Today, Anne Shirley, the girl he had been in love with for over half of his life was to become Mrs Anne Blythe, his wife.

There was a soft knock at the door and his mother came in when he assented. She bustled in holding his suit jacket on one finger so as to not crease it after steaming it for him. She passed it to him and looked at him proudly as he put it on and buttoned it up over his waistcoat. She pressed her lips together in a straight line and nodded mutely at him, trying to hold in the tears. She turned away and was just about to leave his room when she felt her son’s hand on her wrist.

“Mum?” he said softly, turning her to face him and smiling warmly at her his eyes soft and loving. “Thank you”.

“That’s ok……I only steamed your jacket for you….”

“That’s not what I mean……and you know it” he said fondly to her and pulled her onto a warm hug.

“Thank you for everything……every opportunity, every dollar you and Dad spent on my education……I know you and Dad went without so that I could study and have a room of my own……” His mum started to shake her head that was still buried in his chest “……..And thank you for everything that you have taught me and done for me, for every birthday cake you have made me” Elsie laughed softly. “Thank you for every time you read me a bedtime story, kissed me goodnight and zipped my coat up for me and forced me to wear my hat in the snow” he laughed. “Thank you for teaching me to be a gentleman, to be forgiving and how to love with my whole heart” he continued, his mum hugging him hard. “I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am if it wasn’t for you and Dad, and I know I don’t say it enough but I love you both very much” he circled his arms around her and cuddled her. She pulled herself away from him, wiping the tears away from her cheek and then tutting at herself for leaving a damp patch on his shoulder. She wiped it away with her thumb.

“You, ok?” he asked her looking her in her eyes.

“Yeah…...”She chuckled sadly “It is a bittersweet day today Gilbert……I’m so incredibly proud of you, you have grown up to be everything that your father and I could ever ask of you…..You are a wonderful young man…….a doctor…..an amazing father…….and now you are marrying the girl of your dreams……but you will always be my little boy Gilbert” she smiled softly at him and stroked his cheek with her thumb. “And we love you very much too……...There were some dark days a couple of years ago when we thought we would never get to see you marry……...we thought we were to lose you…...” she sniffed and forced herself to brighten up.

She picked up the white rose boutonniere that was on his old desk and threaded it through his button hole and straightened his collar for him. “But here you are marrying Anne Shirley” She grinned at him and he grinned back “I don’t know if I ever told you, but I knew that first day……That day when you came home from school with that bruise on your head and a detention slip in your hand, I knew then that there was something special about this girl…….the way you were grinning at me and the look of love in your eyes” she pointed at his smiling eyes now and he chuckled and looked down at the floor. ”I knew then that you were in love with her” She laughed, “All of those girls that came a knocking after that…..they never stood a chance once you had met your red haired beauty, did they?”

He shook his head still chuckling softly. “No……not a single chance”.

“You are just like me…….as soon as I met your father……I knew it was him, I had waited a long time for my Romeo to find me……. which is not surprising really when he lived on the other side of the world to me” she laughed. “But as soon as I met him, from that first moment when he turned his eyes to me……I knew he was my soul mate. And you had that same look in your eyes when you first told me about Anne”.

“I was never any good at hiding anything from you, was I? you could always read me like a book.” He laughed.

“Yes……...and what a book it’s been!” His mum smirked raising her eyebrows at him “Julia Bell when you were only 12 indeed!”

“Mum!” Gilbert gasped laughing “How the hell did you know about that?”

“Because you came back from the school dance with her shade of lipstick all over your collar! And it’s a small town Gilbert!.......people talk.” she laughed at the colour rising in his cheeks. She ran her hands down his arms and got hold of both of his hands “Be happy darling” she smiled tightly at him trying to stop the tears falling again.

“I will…..I am…….incredibly so” he said softly. “Ready?” he said offering her his arm “You look amazing by the way”.

“Ready” she confirmed “Thank goodness I bought some water proof mascara……I think its going to be a day for happy tears” she said proudly taking his arm.

Xx

Anne couldn’t help but feel nostalgic as she drove through Avonlea on her way to the little white church which she had attended at Marilla’s bequest for so many years. As they drove past the lake of shining waters she remembered how Gilbert had pulled her out from its murky depths, how his long eyelashes had stuck together in little wet clumps and how the water droplets had glistened on his bare chest as he had looked over her anxiously, she closed her eyes and smiled to herself as the image of a half-naked teenage Gilbert Blythe came into her mind’s eye, she could recall the image of him as clearly as if it had only happened yesterday. As they drove past the old school, she remembered how she had argued with him in the car park there, only a few years ago when they had visited the school as esteemed alumni. It had been there in their old Geography classroom where she had first met him, where she had threatened to dump him as her friend if he would not agree to go on holiday with her, she chuckled to herself as she wondered what would have happened had they not gone on that fateful holiday.

Her heart hammered as the vintage Roll Royce pulled up outside the church, the gate decked with bunches of wild carrots, the white flowers tied with pale gold ribbons, with little orange carrots dangling down. Diana was waiting for her with Joy in her arms and excited Delly standing next to her, swinging her matching bouquet of wild carrots around and twirling around in her little white bridesmaid dress that was made out of the same fabric as Anne's dress, little white flowers in her hair next to the tiara that Gilbert had brought home from London for her. Diana was wearing a pale champagne gold Grecian style dress. Her dark curls in a half up half down do that matched Anne's, there was a small cream velvet pouch attached to her bouquet which contained Gilberts wedding ring in it.

Matthew exited the car first and then helped Anne out, whilst Mary and Diana helped straighten her dress. Anne laughed as Joy toddled towards her, her little arms outstretched “Mama Wow” she said, her little hazel eyes wide as she took in her mother’s dress.

“Oh my God, you look beyond cute my sweet girl” she said bending down to kiss her daughter who she hadn’t seen her since yesterday. ”Dada is going to love your costume” she laughed and Joy twirled round happily and then bounced up and down on the spot “Dada, Dada…….where Dada?” She chirped, looking in the car for him. Her little eyebrows knitting together in confusion like her fathers did, when she realised that he wasn’t in the car with Anne.

“Where Dada?” she asked again her little face crumpling, tears welling in her eyes.

“Come on Joy, let’s find Dada……he’s already in the church waiting for Mama” Mary said scooping Joy up and nodding at Anne. They had decided that Joy would go into the church first with Mary, followed by Anne and Matthew, followed by Diana and Delly.

“Are you ready?” Matthew said softly to her, offering her his arm to take. She nodded mutely and slipped her slender hand through his arm. She looked at the warmth of his twinkling blue eyes. “I’m so proud of you my Anne…….our little girl……you look so beautiful……the prettiest girl this side of Halifax”. He patted her hand that was linked through his arm affectionately and smiled tenderly at her as he walked her up the path to meet the man she loved.

Chapter Text

Fred squeezed Gilberts shoulder reassuringly and gave his old friend a smile, his eyebrow raised as they stood together at the front of the church “You ok man?”

“Yeah……. I’m happier than I have ever been Fred” he chuckled “I just can’t wait to marry her”.

“Well it has been the best part of sixteen years…..it’s about bloody time” he whispered, making Gilbert smile “You must be the most patient man in Canada”.

“She is worth the wait……I would have waited another sixteen years if I had too”.

“Yeah, let’s hope she’s not that late” he said looking at his watch for comic effect “I’ve got work on Monday” he joked and Gilbert chuckled nervously, just as the opening chords of “At Last” started to play. He smiled to himself and softly shook his head at her choice of song, the congregation laughed as they all knew how long this day had been in coming.

He turned to look at the white door at the back of the church open only to see Mary enter with Joy. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he saw what his daughter was wearing. The congregation ooh’d and arh’d over Joy as she toddled down the aisle dressed as a little carrot. Her chocolate curls on top of her head in a little top knot tied with a green ribbon.

“Dada!” she shouted gleefully as she bolted down the aisle as fast as her little legs would carry her in her costume, straight into her father’s arms as he bent down and swooped her up and kissed her little cheek. She pointed to her costume “Me Cawwot Dada” she grinned.

“Wow” he laughed “You look beautiful!”

“Me cawwot Dada……. Mama wow” she chirped as Mary produced a lollipop from her handbag and took Joy from her father’s arms, knowing that only bribery would persuade Joy away from her Daddy.

Gilbert turned his attention back to the church doors and he felt his breath leave his body as he saw her standing at the doors, the early summer sunshine backlighting her and making her look ethereal in her white gown, her beautiful flaming locks not covered with a veil, but falling loose around her bare shoulders, he felt his mouth go dry and his heart hammered as she stepped forward on Matthew’s arm. She swept down the aisle towards him as Etta James sang ‘At last’. He looked at her with adoring eyes and couldn’t help but shed a happy tear that rolled down his cheek. She was his at last, this elusive, long sought Anne, won after years of patient waiting. It was to him that she was coming in the sweet surrender of the bride. Was he worthy of her? Could he make her as happy as he hoped? But as she neared him, their eyes met and all doubt was swept away in a glad certainty.

They belonged to each other and no matter what life may hold for them, it could never alter that. Their happiness was in each other’s keeping and as Matthew took her slender hand and passed it to Gilberts outstretched one, both were unafraid.

Xx

Anne waited nervously as the door to the church opened and she heard the music begin to play, Joy rushed forward as soon as she spotted her father and ran towards him her little chubby arms outstretched as he scooped her up and kissed her cheek. He passed Joy to Mary and then he turned his beautiful eyes to her as she began to walk down the aisle towards him.

He was dressed in a dark grey suit with a soft grey waistcoat a white tie with a subtle lace motif on it that matched her dress and a single white rose in his button hole, and the carrot cufflinks she had given him as a graduation present. His hair curly and messy just how she loved it and his eyes radiating love like she had never seen before; he wiped a tear away and laughed softly as she walked down the aisle towards him. That familiar magnetic force of nature and destiny getting stronger with every step she took towards him, drawing her too him. Their eyes locked; the room could have been empty as far as they were concerned as they only had eyes for each other. Nothing had ever felt so natural and so right as she took his hand as she joined him at the altar. The touch of his hand sent a spark through her entire being as though the last of the stars had finally moved into a celestial alignment at that precise moment in time. He took her hand and his soft full lips kissed the back of her knuckles gently, his eyes never leaving hers. Her heart raced and her breath hitched, his eyes looking so incredibly beautiful as his warm lips left the back of her hand.

They were married in the little white church as the sun shone through the windows above them and bathed them in a golden light, as if a blessing was being sent straight from the heavens above. They were surrounded by so much love as they held hands and repeated their deathless vows. Diana and Fred stepped forward with their rings and placed them onto the bible for Reverend Allan to bless. Anne smiled warmly at Gilbert as his brow furrowed when he saw his old wedding band that he had cast in to the sea in Antigua fall out of Diana palm and onto the bible. His eyes shot straight to Anne’s “How?” was all he whispered to her as the reverend said the blessing. She just raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him and gave him a dazzling smile, as she took the ring and slipped it onto his finger and kissed it in place.

“What God has joined together let no man put usunder……I hereby pronounce you husband and wife” Reverend Allan pronounced as the congregation clapped. “You may now kiss the bride” he smiled.

Gilbert tenderly cupped her cheek in his palm and gazed lovingly at her “You are my Mrs Blythe……at last.......you look so incredibly beautiful” he whispered to her, before swiftly spinning her around as she yelped in surprise and threw her over his arm in a passionate dip kiss. Their friends and family cheered and whooped as he tried to passionately kiss her, but they were both grinning and giggling so much, they just fell into a loving embrace as he righted her back to her feet.

“I love you Mrs Blythe” he whispered to her, his nose toying with hers, and he gave her a featherlight kiss on her lips.

“I love you too Husband” She whispered back, looking at him through her long lashes seductively as their friends continued to cheer and clap.

He cupped her face with both of his hands and kissed her longingly “Keep that up and I’m not gonna be able to wait until tonight for you my wife” he whispered into her ear as the music began to play.

“I promise you, it will be worth the wait” she grinned at him, her eyes sparkling as she took his arm to walk back up the aisle as Dr and Mrs Blythe.

Chapter Text

The barn was decorated beautifully with thousands of twinkling lights strung around the beams and columns. The tables were decked in pristine white table cloths, with flickering candles and white flowers tied with champagne gold ribbons decorating each round table. Bash And Matthew had done an amazing job, Anne could not have wished for a more romantic or magical setting for her wedding, she had been banned from the barn for the last two weeks so that the transformation would be a surprise when she walked in on her wedding day. She had gasped as she and Gilbert had wandered in hand in hand and had flung her arms around the two men that had worked tirelessly to create it for her and had sobbed like a child.

After the meal, Fred stood up with a microphone in his hand and cleared his voice as Diana clinked her spoon against her crystal champagne glass. “Good afternoon, everybody and thank you all for coming along today……for those of you who don’t know me I’m Fred, and I’m Gilbert’s best man……. He was my best man when I married the beautiful Mrs Wright here…...” he indicated to Diana “……. nearly two years ago and I am still living down all of the secrets that Dr Blythe exposed in his best man’s speech at our wedding……I promised him that night that I would get him back……” people chuckled as Gilbert rolled his eyes and held onto Anne’s hand tightly. “So here we are Blythe……brace yourself…….” He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and looked over at Gilbert and grinned at him.

Fred cleared his throat and began.

“The first chapter of the very first Harry Potter book is called ‘The Boy Who Lived’. If a book was to be written about Gilbert Blythe’s life, then the first chapter title should be entitled ‘The boy who waited’. And wait he did. He waited for Miss Anne Shirley for 16 looooong years. I’m sure most of you in the room have known Gilbert for most for his life, and I think it’s fair to say that his life had been divided into two sections…… before ……and after Anne Shirley. The first part of his life was mainly made up of one practical joke after another, as the curly hair mischief maker and Avonlea Golden Boy got away with one prank after another. Relying on his good looks, charming nature and puppy dog eyes to get himself out of all manner of mischief. Such as the time he snook into Moody’s bedroom and shaved off one of his eyebrows in the middle of the night, the night before our school photos…….. Or the time that he replaced all of my underwear in my drawer with identical sets, just three sizes smaller”. Fred comically mimed fishing around his own backside as if pulling a wedgie out. Gilbert laughed and buried his face in his hands as Fred continued, the wedding guests laughing and wiping tears away from their cheeks as a goofy, one eyebrowed picture of a young Moody flashed up on the screen behind where Fred was making his speech. “One of the more memorable ones was when he took a screwdriver to school and over the period of one week he randomly unscrewed all of the drawer fronts in Mr Phillips desk and classroom, so every time he went to open a drawer it would just come away in his hand……” Fred Laughed and Gilbert nodded “he gained full and total respect for that one from the entire student body, as it completely pissed Phillips off”.

“And of course, let’s not forget the time that he replaced all of the sugar in the sugar bowls at the Sunday School picnic with salt” he continued as Mrs Lynde’s mouth formed into an O shape and she gasped, turning an angry stare in Gilberts direction, as she realised who had ruined her afternoon all those years ago. Gilbert gave her a charming smile and affected his puppy dog eyes at her and she rolled her eyes and grinned at him, wafting her hand in front of her in a gesture of forgiveness, making everybody laugh again.

“But that was all until - thank goodness - Miss Anne Shirley rocked up and changed his life…….and later rocked his world” Fred Added cheekily, making Anne and Gilbert glance at each other and blush, Anne shielding her blushes with her hand from Matthew who was sat next to her.

“Despite his cheeky antics, the whole of Avonlea adored Gilbert Blythe and I’m sure this is no surprise to the new Mrs Blythe, that he had a certain way with the laaadies…….” Fred paused for effect and people tittered. Anne turned and looked at Gilbert and smirked at him, He just hid his face in his hands again, slowly shaking his head. “I’d like to say it started with Julia Bell when he was 12……but it actually started with another titian beauty long before all of that…… I’m sorry to break this news to you today of all days Anne……your wedding day…..but I feel as though it is my duty to tell you that unfortunately …... you were not Gilberts first red head”. Gilbert just groaned from behind his hands. “……she was a really beauty too Anne, she was a swimmer and so had the most amazing body, all taught and toned……..rock hard in fact…….and her singing voice was just as beautiful as she was……She actually starred in a movie…..” people laughed nervously, not knowing where Fred was going with this. Gilbert raised his head out of his hands and shook his head at Fred again, his cheeks bright red, glancing nervously at Anne, only to then roll his eyes when his mum got up and presented him with an old and tatty looking shoe box. The guests all started laughing again as Fred said “Come on Blythe…. open it” in a deep gravelly voice close to the microphone. Gilbert opened the box and pulled out his old Ariel doll, dressed in a wedding dress. He laughed and held it up next to Anne. They looked remarkably similar. He looked over at his parents who were wiping tears away from their cheeks. “He was completely obsessed with Ariel when he was 3 and he wouldn’t let me ever throw it away” his mum laughed. and Gilbert nodded in confirmation. Anne chuckled and pulled him towards her giving him a light kiss on his lips, she loved it when the famously unflappable Gilbert Blythe got all flustered, he was only normally like that in the privacy of their bedroom.

“So, Ariel was his first love……. he took that doll to bed with him for a good few years” Fred said pointing at the doll and everybody laughed as Gilbert cuddled the doll and looked at Anne with big eyes. She just rolled her eyes and ran her hand through his hair. “……..who was then heartbreakingly replaced with a long line of lovelies who were willing to share a few flirty text messages and a few more kisses on the back row of the movies or the corner of the darkened gym, with a young and handsome Mr Blythe once he discovered the effect he had on the fairer sex…….I also think it’s fair to say that he was fast becoming a cocky bast…….”. He stopped talking as Anne sushed him, wagged her finger at him and pointed at Delly and Joy. “……person……” Fred continued, getting the message not to swear in front of the children. “……so when a certain beautiful red haired young lady turned up on a Tuesday afternoon in his Geography lesson when he was 14, our young Gilbert here thought all he had to do was give her a quick wink and a bit of the famous, good old Blythe charm……” Fred turned his head to John Blythe and winked at him, John grinned and winked back.”……..and she would be putty in his hands” Fred said lightly and then paused as he looked at Anne and Gilbert. People began to laugh as they all knew what had happened at that point.

“Man was he wrong!” Fred stated, his voice gravelly and close to the microphone again, as he produced Anne’s battered world atlas from underneath the table, everybody laughed and Anne rubbed the spot on Gilberts head where she had hit him whilst shrugging and grinning apologetically. “This started stage two of Gilbert Blythe’s life……the wait for Anne Shirley…….” he looked at Anne and they smiled fondly at each other, he handed her the atlas “You might want to hang onto that, you might need it in the future” he chuckled and then continued “……for the rest of Avonlea High it marked the beginning of a new spectator sport - Anne Shirley v’s Gilbert Blythe - as they warred with each other for the best part of five years whilst practically drooling over the other, once the others back was turned. Whilst the rest of the human race could see what amazing chemistry these two idiots have…….they were in a state of complete and utter denial…..the ‘Iron entered Anne soul’ apparently on that first day, when she first took one look at Gilbert Blythe……” Fred paused and looked at Gilbert and raised a cheeky eyebrow at him “ I hear it enters her soul two or three times a day these days” he quipped as Anne buried her face in Gilberts neck, her shoulders shaking with laughter and Gilbert turned beetroot and looked at Matthew mortified. Their wedding guests were wiping their tears of laughter from their cheeks with their napkins as Fred continued. Fred chuckled at their embarrassment and continued. “So eventually after 5 long years of war, Anne Shirley finally forgave Gilbert Blythe after he saved Matthew’s life, and their relationship blossomed into a wonderful friendship and they quickly became the best of friends…….no offence there by the way Blythe!..... I had only been your best friend for the last 18 years; I did often wonder what Anne could give him that I could not” He laughed “It then seemed at last that their relationship was back on track and the whole of Avonlea was awaiting the announcement any day that the nature of their friendship had transformed into a romantic one……Boy were we wrong!” Fred said again in the deep gravelly voice. “As usual Shirbert here…..” everyone laughed “……decided of course to make their lives as difficult as possible and all of us who know and love them had to listen to a decade of ‘ We are just friends…….he’s just a chum…..he doesn’t feel that way about me……..’ and Anne’s favourite ‘…..he’s Gilbert Blythe’” Fred imitated Annes voice to perfection and looked over at them and Anne stroked Gilberts face lovingly. “Whilst everybody in Avonlea, Kingsport and then Toronto could see how much the hero of our story here was madly in love with Anne Shirley, it seemed that it was only our heroine Anne that was oblivious to his feelings towards her. Whilst Anne always adamantly stated that she was the only one on the planet that was immune to his charms, by the time they decided to go on holiday together I think it’s fair to say that her so called ‘immunity’ was waning……” he paused for dramatic effect and turned to look at Joy who was covered in chocolate ice cream she had just had for her dessert, “…….and here we have the evidence of just how ‘good friends’ Anne and Gilbert are.” A photo flashed up of Anne heavily pregnant with Joy and everybody laughed. “So just a warning ladies…...this is what happens if you go on holiday with your ‘just’ best friend Gilbert Blythe”. Gilbert rolled his eyes and laughed. Fred turned to Gilbert and smiled fondly at him “And it’s here where our story takes a turn for the worse, after having the mother of all fallings out, Anne and Gilbert parted ways……We all know what a toll that that falling out took on both of them, and for those who surrounded them it was quite honestly one of the worst times of our lives. Both of them completely broken without the other. When Gilbert became infected with Typhoid, and for a few dark and terrifying days we all thought that we were about to lose one of the best human beings we had in our lives, I thought I was about to lose my childhood and best friend…..” Fred turned to Gilbert and a tear rolled down his face and he momentarily could not continue, he gulped heavily and let out a slow breath as Gilbert rose from his seat and hugged him hard, tears in his own eyes. Gilbert pulled away from Fred, quietly checking that he was ok, Fred nodded and was not alone as he wiped his tears from his face. Gilbert returned to his seat next to Anne and put his arm around her as she was also crying, tears streaming down her face.

Diana stood up next to Fred as he tried to regain his composure, she gently took the microphone from Fred and rubbed her husband softly on his back as a sign of support. “When we heard the news of just how ill Gilbert was, all I could think of was how the hell I was going to tell Anne…..I knew she was heavily pregnant and I was going to have to tell her that the guy I knew she was in love with and the father of her child was dying…….” She turned to Gilbert “ I will never forget Gilbert as I told her, she looked like she was about to collapse and die herself, she looked like her heart had completely broken. She has since told me that it was in that moment that she finally realised what we all knew……that she loved you” A tear rolled down Diana’s cheek, but she smiled and wiped it away, Gilbert was gripping onto Annes hand like his life depended on it, their eyes locked in a loving gaze “She loved Gilbert Blythe!” Diana rejoiced laughing as the newly wedded couple kissed softly. “I visited Gilbert in the hospital everyday and Anne facetimed him, he instantly relaxed and even squeezed my hand when she told him that she loved him for the first time as he lay unconscious in the bed. When the doctors told us that Gilbert was going to recover, I felt a gladness in my heart thinking that at last these two idiots will finally confess how they feel about each other and get their act together…….Boy was I wrong” Diana said in a low gravelly voice that matched her husbands, making people laugh through their tears. “……it was now Gilberts turn to be a complete pain in the ass as he decided to completely ghost Anne.” She rolled her eyes and put her hand on her hip looking over at him as he winced, embarrassed by his own behaviour. “We had only just recovered from believing that Gilbert was dying, when Anne decided that she would have a go at besting him in the drama department by collapsing at our wedding……..fortunately a certain handsome doctor -who was wearing his hero hair that day - saved the day by delivering Joy quickly and safely, saving both mother and daughter ……his daughter.”

“DADA” Joy shouted holding her arms out her father. Fortunately, Mary had cleaned all of the ice cream off her face so Gilbert picked her up and she snuggled into his chest and sucked her thumb, looking sleepy. She sighed heavily and muttered “Me uv my Dada” and her eyes drifted closed, making everyone chuckled fondly.

Fred took the opportunity to take the microphone back off his wife, “We all knew that Gilbert was scared to death to tell Anne how he felt, fearing that if he did, he would frighten her away. But I firmly believe that destiny had had enough, these two wonderful human beings were destined to be together and never mind how much they fought it, how much they argued and resisted it……..destiny had a plan, and sent one of her little angels this way to sort her silly parents out……” he paused and smiled as Joy let out a loud snore from Gilberts chest. Gilbert kissed the top of her chocolate brown curls that were now as unruly as his as they had worked their way out of her little top knot. “……..and at last they were together and all was right with the world, and Gilbert had won his long sort after Anne, he had waited patiently for her for 16 years. So Gilbert Blythe is definitely the boy who waited, but he is also the boy who worked hard, loves hard and is possibly the most loyal, steadfast and patient person I will ever know. Gilbert is the boy who dreamed of becoming a doctor, who dreamed of a happy family all with his Anne, but most importantly, Gilbert Blythe is a bit like Harry Potter, what with the glasses and all, performing magic every day at work and saving lives and making a difference to people’s lives……but Gilbert Blythe is also the boy who lived, and I could not be happier and prouder of my best friend and his wonderful, intelligent and beautiful wife” Fred raised his glass and looked at Gilbert over the rim of the glass “At last I get to say these words to you my friends…….Please raise your glass in a toast to……. Dr and Mrs Anne Blythe”.

As Gilbert passed the sleeping Joy to his mum, people raised their glasses and took a sip of champagne, he leant over and kissed Anne, his hand on the small of her back sending waves of desire through her body, just the lightest of his touches sending her wild and causing her heart to pound as she looked into her husband’s hazel eyes. He stroked her cheek with his thumb, “I love you Mrs Blythe” he whispered and kissed her lightly again, she had to control herself from just grabbing him and kissing him as passionately as she wanted too, she slid her hand into his hair at the base of his neck and ran her fingers through his hair in an upward motion. He evidently did not have as much self control as her as her and he suddenly put both of his hands on her waist and pulled her in closer, kissing her passionately as the guests whooped and cheered. He eventually slowed their kiss down as Bash began wolf whistling and they smiled against each other’s lips, Gilbert giving her one last lingering kiss before pulling away from her.

“And now for the Groom’s speech” Fred announced passing the microphone to Gilbert and then hugging him.

Gilbert surprised Anne by not returning to her side, but walking towards the stage where the band had already set up. He stepped up onto the stage area that had been constructed in the barn and turned towards the guests.

“Hello” he chuckled and people whooped and cheered as he looked at the floor and grinned. “I suppose I deserved that……” he said pointing at Fred, “……..he did promise to get me back after I was his best man.” he laughed warmly. “And Mum, make sure Joy doesn’t get hold of my Ariel……I’m not in the habit of sharing my red heads” he joked.

“Firstly, I would like to thank you all for coming……or perhaps I should say ‘my wife and I would like to thank you for coming’” he grinned and people whooped again as he looked lovingly at Anne across the room. He paused as people settled down to listen to him. “I think it is an underestimation to say that this is the happiest day of my life…….or that is to say that Anne has made me the happiest man on earth today……” he placed his hand on his heart and grinned at Anne “ I bet you never thought on that first day that we met that this day would happen…….that you would marry me Carrots?” he winked at her and laughed as she shook her head at him, a beautiful smile stretching across her face “Does that mean I won the war…… I finally won the heart of my fiery temptress……..I have loved you Anne Blythe since that first moment that I met you……it has only ever been you…….I love the fire in your eyes, your beautiful hair, you have the cutest little pointed chin I have ever seen and your eyes bewitch me. I love the way that you love your friends and family, that you would do anything for them, you are the kindest, most generous and intelligent soul that I have ever met and you are the most wonderful mother to our children. You both challenge me and support me, you have enabled me to be the person that I am today…..You amaze me Anne…..”

The band suddenly appeared as Gilbert paused, never taking his eyes of Anne. The band began to play ‘Amazed’ by Lone Star. A tear slipped down Annes cheek as she realised, he was going to sing to her as his speech.

“Every time our eyes meet
This feeling inside me
Is almost more than I can take”

He stepped down from the stage, and walked over to Anne and reached out for her hand which she took, stepping out from around the back of the table.

“Baby, when you touch me
I can feel how much you love me
And it just blows me away”

He led her to the dance floor, one hand in hers the other holding the microphone. His voice deep and mellow.

“I've never been this close to anyone or anything
I can hear your thoughts, I can see your dreams”

He pulled her closer letting go of her hand and putting his free arm around her waist.

“I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I wanna spend the rest of my life
With you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you”

He twirled her around and brought her back into his chest. His pupils blown as he gazed lovingly at her, every word he sang resonated within her, her heart pounded as they swayed to the music together.

“The smell of your skin
The taste of your kiss
The way you whisper in the dark
Your hair all around me
Baby, you surround me
You touch every place in my heart”

He ran his hand through the ends of her hair and her breath hitched.

"Oh, it feels like the first time every time
I wanna spend the whole night in your eyes"

He put his arm back around her waist and pulled her in as close as he could whilst still holding the microphone to his lips.

“I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I wanna spend the rest of my life
With you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you”

He twirled her around one last time as he sang the last note and then kissed her softly on the lips, she then fell into his arms and they hugged each other hard, He pulled away from her and said, “Anne Blythe you are my best friend and I am so completely and utterly in love with you. I have dreamed of this day since I was 14 years old, you are all I ever wanted and all I will ever want. I want to grow old beside you, I want to have more children with you, I want to argue with you….. ” he raised a cheeky eyebrow at her “…….I want to make up with you….. I want to be there for you in everything that you do from now on until eternity……you and our little family will always be my priority……I can’t wait to start our happy ever after Anne, because it is with you……you are my dream and you have made me so happy by becoming my wife. I love you Mrs Anne Blythe”.

She took his face in her Hands and kissed him longingly “And I love you too Gilbert Blythe” she breathed, completely lost in her husband’s beautiful eyes.

Chapter Text

After the speeches and the last of the dishes had been cleared away by the staff that had been hired for the day, the tables were moved to one side so that the party could really start. The barn was filled with laughter and music, dancing and celebrations as their friends rejoiced in Anne and Gilberts happiness. They were often pulled apart chatting and catching up with different friendship groups and work colleagues who had made the long journey from Toronto to PEI to celebrate their wedding. Baby Jem had been taken to bed hours ago by Rachel Lynde’s youngest daughter who was a professional nanny and it was just after Mary had taken an exhausted Joy to put to bed that Gilbert felt his wife’s slender arms circle his waist from behind him and she pressed her body into his back, taking his breath away as his body automatically responded to hers as he melted back into her embrace. “Dance with me” she whispered, looking up at him with her beautiful green eyes. He ran his hand down her forearm that was still around his waist and laced his fingers through hers as he led her to the dance floor, excusing himself from Moody’s parents that he had been chatting to. ‘I’m Good’ by David Guetta began to play and they wrapped their arms around each other and swayed to the slow introduction, eyes locked in an intense stare. Gilbert span her around, her skirt twirling around his ankles as the beat picked up and started jumping up and down in his trademark moves, curls bouncing and one hand raised in the air, Anne picked her skirts up and matched his moves singing to him “I’m gonna have the best fucking night of my life”. Gilbert put his hand on her waist and pressed her body into his as they swayed again as the beat dropped, he pulled her close and kissed her passionately. Then as the music began to throb again he pulled away and Anne looked him right in the eyes and sang “You’re going to have the best fucking night of your life” coquettishly to him through her eyelashes as she danced in front of him, the dance floor was packed with sweaty bodies dancing to the same beat, they never took their eyes away from the others, their bodies pressed together as they kissed again, his fingers ghosting down the little buttons on the back of her wedding dress, sending her a message loud and clear that he could not wait to get her out of it.

“You ready?” She whispered in his ear.

“Always” he whispered back breathily in her ear, sending goose bumps flashing pleasurably down her spine and arms. He pulled back and the look in his eyes made her knees go weak and her heart to race, how were his eyes so bewitching? She started to wonder if he had her under some kind of hypnotic spell, binding her too him for life, as she knew as she looked at him that she would never do anything to hurt him ever again, that all she wanted to do was to make him happy all of her live long days, that he was hers and she was his. She laced her fingers through his and led him away from the dance floor to where Diana was waiting for her by the door.

“The cars ready, and all of your bags are in the trunk” she smiled at Anne and then winked at Gilbert “Enjoy” she said to him.

“Are you going to tell me where you are taking me yet Carrots” he asked, a silly smile on his face, feeling so happy that he could burst.

She turned to him, her manicured finger on her chin as she looked up to the ceiling as if she was in deep thought but just looked back at him, “No” she said haughtily, her nose in the air, she ran her figure down his chest and hooked it into his belt loop, yanking his pelvis towards her. Her other hand in his hair.

“Fucking hell Carrots, this marriage is going to be consummated in the back of a car or the around the back of this barn if you don’t stop that” he whispered smoothly into her ear, his pupils blown and his hair a mess.

The music stopped and Diana announced that the bride and groom were now leaving, making everybody whoop and clap, Bash whistling with two fingers as the couple embraced their parents one last time and walked hand in hand out of the barn, followed now by their guests throwing rice and confetti. Fred opened the car door for them and passed Anne a black strip of material and she waved it in front of Gilberts face, it was a blindfold. Gilberts jaw dropped open in surprise as she wrapped it around his eyes and tied it behind his head. She then helped him into the back of the car and slid in beside him as everybody cheered and waved them off.

Xx

50 minutes later, their car pulled off the highway and started making its way through the streets of Kingsport.

“Are we nearly there yet?” Gilbert asked breathlessly as he broke his lips away briefly before crashing them back against hers, not giving her a chance to answer his question.

“Hang on…..” she said as she pulled his face away from hers so she could glance out of the tinted window of the limousine they were being driven in. “……..not yet” she teased. He sensed her teasing tone and decided to tease her back by running his hand up her leg under her skirts, and hooking his finger under the side of her underwear on her hip and giving it a playful tug as he continued to kiss her.

“How much longer can it be……..do you have any idea what you are doing to me?” He almost begged just as the car came to a stop and he heard the driver get out of the car.

“Shit” he muttered, quickly withdrawing his wandering hand and trying to calm himself down before the chauffer opened the door. “Are we here?” he asked, no idea where he was as he was still wearing the blind fold.

She straightened the blindfold over his eyes to check that he couldn’t see anything. “Yes we are here” she laughed as she took his hand and squeezed it before pulling him out of the car as the chauffeur opened the door for them. He heard the driver disappear with their bags as she began to carefully lead him along the side walk. “Where the hell are we Carrots?” he laughed, one hand holding tightly onto hers and the other one held out in front of him trying to feel his way. “This is well kinky…….I never knew you had it in you Shirley” he joked.

“Blythe now, I think you will find” she laughed.

He heard a familiar creek of a door, but he could not quite place it as she began to carefully lead him up a staircase, he groped around for the handrail and nearly tripped over a couple of times as she led him up the stairs. He could hear her breathing rate increase as they she began to lead him along a corridor. His other senses heightened as his brain tried to figure out where they were……there was definitely a familiar smell about this place.

She suddenly stopped and turned him around “Am I supposed to pin the tail on something? Are we having a children’s tea party?” he joked as he felt her move behind him.

“Definitely not” Anne said from behind him. She got hold of his hand and placed them both on the door in front of him so that he was leaning against it, a vague drunken memory flitted through his mind of this happening before, or maybe it was just a sense of déjà vu.

“Any guesses yet?” she purred in his ear, making his breath hitch.

“Anne…..” he begged, barely able to take the wait for her any longer.

“I’ll give you another clue” she pressed her body up against his back and plunged both of her hands into his front pockets and groped around, taking his breath away.

“Fucking hell Carrots” he gasped, an idea of where they were now forming in his mind’s eye.

She removed her hands and he heard a key jingle as she opened the door and holding both of his hands led him into a room.

“Are we?……are we?……no surely not” he laughed.

“Oh yes we are” she sing songed back to him, as she took the blindfold off to reveal where they were.

“Anne” he gapped, laughing as he took in the familiar room.

She had taken him back to his old dorm room, where they had spent so many happy nights together, although now it was beautifully decorated with candles and bunches of white flowers all over the room, Lilly of the valley, white roses, queen Annes lace and candles flickering softly on every surface. White gossamer curtains draped around the room and twisted around the bed stead, there was a platter of food and a bottle of champagne on ice and two crystal glasses beside it.

He turned his face towards her, she was beaming from ear to ear “Do you like it?” she asked, excitedly bobbing up and down on her tippy toes and doing a mini clap in front of her chest.

“I love it” he whispered and gently took her face in his hands and kissed her longingly.

“You have no idea how many times I have dreamed of kissing you in this room……” his voice deep and gravelly as he trailed off and kissed her deeply. They stumbled together backwards until they bumped into the wall as their kiss became more heated, both hungry for the others lips. Pleasant goose bumps flashes over her skin at his deep voice and passionate kiss, her hands raking through his curls.

“I thought so……I want to make all of your dreams come true for the rest of our lives, starting now….” She pulled away from him and turned around and looked at him over her shoulder, God he looked hot, all dishevelled and kissed to death in his wedding suit, his eyes hooded and his pupils completely blown.

“Do you want that?” she asked lightly “Do you want me to make all of your dreams come true Dr Blythe?”

“Fucking hell yeah” was all his brilliant mind could come up with.

She looked at him over her shoulder and slipped one of the lace straps of her wedding dress off her shoulder and glanced at her back. “Do you mind helping me?” she whispered.

He licked his lips, his mouth suddenly going dry. He stepped forward and kissed her shoulder, tracing the little formation of freckles on her neck as he swept her hair to one side and began to slowly unbutton the tiny little buttons at the back of her dress. His thumb caressing her naked skin as he exposed it, one button at a time.

“You are so beautiful Anne……. you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen; nobody has ever come close to comparing to you” he mumbled huskily against her neck as he continued to lightly and tantalisingly kiss her silky skin. She leant back into his caress and closed her eyes. He could drive her mad, just with his kisses. He undid the last button and slipped the other lacey strap off her shoulder and her dress fell to the floor. She stepped out of the dress and turned to face him, her hands crisscrossed over her naked breasts, she was left just standing in her white lace panties and high heeled shoes. She pressed herself too him and kissed him again, her arms leaving her chest and circling around his neck, her fingers playing lightly in the soft curls at the base of his neck, he groaned softly against her lips as she pressed her soft breasts into him, his hands drifted down her sides and circled her slim waist as he pulled her closer, deepening their kiss. Her hand lightly slipped down his chest and rested briefly on his peck, her fingers ghosting over it before they drifted down and started to unbutton his waistcoat. She slid it over his arms once the buttons were all undone and it dropped to the floor next to her dress. His hands explored the dip of her waist before coming up to cup her face, his thumbs stroking her cheeks softly as he slowed their kisses down and uttered “I love you so much Anne……from that first moment that I saw you…….I fell for you……I knew it was only you I ever wanted……..you are making all of my dreams come true”.
“I love you too Gil” she whispered to him as she raked her hands through his hair again, angling his head so that she could kiss him deeply. He whimpered and his knees went weak, how many times he had lain in this room, on that bed and dreamt of this moment, of holding her in his arms and being able to tell her how much he loved her, and he had dared to dream that she would say those very words to him ‘I love you Gil’. How many tears he had shed on that pillow, waiting for this moment, his heart breaking, thinking that it would never happen…..and now, here she was …….in his arms…….his wife……on their wedding night.

She loosened his tie and only pulled away from his lips long enough to drag it over his head, before throwing it on the floor. Their lips reconnecting instantly as she began to slowly unbutton his shirt, slipping her fingers into the gaps between the buttons as she did so. He moaned again against her lips. “Jesus Anne…..” he muttered, circling his arms tightly around her torso, his hands running up and down her bare back. She slipped his suspenders of his shoulders in one swift move which was shortly followed by his shirt, that was added to the pile of formal wear now lying trampled on the floor. She ran her hands over his chest, still as well chiselled and defined as it had been in his late teens, his skin as soft as silk and tanned to perfection. God he was fucking gorgeous!

“I have something I want you to see…….” she smiled up at him shyly as she pulled out of a kiss, his lips chasing hers “……a little surprise” she ran her hand down his chest as she stepped backwards away from him, again covering her breasts up as she went, she turned away from him and headed for the bathroom looking coquettishly over her shoulder at him “Get your kit of Dr Blythe and get into bed” she ordered.

He smirked at her; he didn’t need telling twice. He stripped the rest of his clothes off and got into his old bed. He could hear her rattling around in the bathroom, unzipping a bag and then suddenly the door opened and she stepped out. A huge smile stretched across his face as he saw what she was wearing. Her legs and feet were bare and all that she had on was his old football shirt, that was slipping off one shoulder and fell to the top of her thighs. Her hair was down and falling in soft curls over her bare shoulder.

“Jesus fuck Anne…..do you have any idea, what you are doing to me……” he almost panted as he took her in, his eyes sweeping over her “You look so fucking sexy…..” he crawled out of bed and grabbed her and kissed her passionately as she giggled against his hungry lips.

“Then I think you are going to like this then” she whispered to him and turned around so that he could see the back of the football shirt. He saw the faded ‘BLYTHE’ on the back, but just above it on the left hand side, she had sewn on it in matching fabric the letters, ‘MRS’.

She heard his sharp intake of breath and felt his hands trace over the new letters there.

“You are the most wonderful, amazing, sexy woman in this whole entire world and I am going to show you just what you do to me Mrs Blythe” he put his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck passionately, not caring if he gave her a hickey, he was living out all of his teenage dreams, years’ worth of passion and want came pouring out of him as his hands slipped under the front of the shirt and he realised she was completely naked underneath it. He groaned and she gasped in pleasure as she let her head fall back onto his shoulder. He suddenly span her around and picked her up bridal style and laid her gently on the bed.

“Are you ready Mrs Blythe?” he asked her, his eyes dark and intense and one eyebrow arched.

“I seem to remember you telling me once that I would not forget my wedding night if I had married you” she arched her own eyebrow up at him and slowly grazed her own thigh with her hand, slightly lifting the football shirt up.

“Oh, you definitely won’t forget ……. I can promise you that……. Carrots …….”

Xx

They lay on their sides together, their bodies pressed together, their legs in a tangle. He laced his fingers with hers as they lazily kissed on the bed. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her wedding ring, the only thing she was wearing. She pulled his large hand to her lips and kissed his wedding ring, the only thing he was wearing.

“I love you so much……I never thought this day would come……when I can call you my wife……I love you, I love you, I love you”. He mumbled as he kissed her neck breathily.

“I love you too Gil……I don’t want this day to end……if we never fall asleep, does that make it our wedding day forever?” she sighed and closed her eyes briefly as he continued to softly kiss her neck.

“You will always be my bride……. you looked beautiful Anne……. you are so beautiful……” he turned her hand over and kissed her palm and down her wrist “……. you were made for me……...we were made for each other”.

“You only say that because I look like Ariel” she smiled as he deepened a kiss to her neck, she felt him smile against her skin and he pulled away from her neck and looked into her eyes, his eyes were dancing and she thought he had never looked happier. He squeezed her hand with his “You are more beautiful than Ariel…….and you are soft and squidgy in all of the right places……” he smiled and she laughed “Mine and Ariels relationship was a very similar relationship to how ours was at first……that is very one sided…...she was very indifferent and cold……and hard……...it was all take and no give” he laughed.

“She was not very demanding though” Anne laughed “unlike me……I was quite hard work”.

“Oh boy, you were hard work alright……I enjoyed the chase though……as long as I won in the end”.

“Won?......I am not your prize Dr Blythe” she smiled.

“Oh yes you are” he said. “I have earnt you fair and square…….I have earnt the right to kiss every delicious little freckle on your body……” He peppered her face and shoulders with featherlight little kisses that made her shiver pleasurably. He kissed down the inside of her arm and brought her hand to his lips again. He turned their joined left hands together and examined them.

“Anne?”

“Hmmm?” she responded, as she cuddled contentedly into his chest.

“How on earth did you find my ring?” he asked, the question had been at the back of his mind all day. “I threw it into the sea……the night that we argued……. I don’t understand how you came by it?”

She leaned back to look up at him, he was squinting at his ring, his brows slightly knotted together in confusion.

“Would you like me to tell you a story?”

He stopped squinting as his eyes moved away from the ring to her face and he nodded.

“Are you sitting comfortably……” she asked and again he nodded smiling at her “…….then I shall begin” she smiled and he chuckled.

“Once upon a time there was a man called Hester. Hester was a good man, he worked hard, he loved his family and he was a man of God…..” she looked up at him with her eyes dancing and he couldn’t help but smile warmly down at her “ …….Hester went to church every week since he was a new born babe and being the good Christian man that he had been raised to be, he prayed every morning and every night for the people he had met and the community that he lived in. It so happened that a few years ago he met a man……a certain handsome doctor who forgot to complete his booking at the luxury hotel that he was working in….” Gilbert rolled his eyes at her and laughed, he kissed the end of her nose softly as she carried on “…….Hester had worked in the hotel business for the best part of half a century and he thought he had officially seen it all…….that was until one night when he was working the night shift and the said mentioned forgetful doctor entered the hotel reception area having quite clearly had an argument with his beautiful and alluring best friend…..”

“Did he mention she was as hot as fuck?” Gilbert interrupted and she nudged him playfully.

“No…...but he did mention that in all of his years working at the hotel he had never seen ‘such despair’….” The smile slipped off Anne's face and she buried he face into her husband’s chest and swallowed thickly as she tried to control her tears, he pulled his arms around her and softly kissed the top of her hair.

“Anne…...I…..” he started, but she looked back up at him and placed her finger gently on his lips to halt his words so that she could continue.

“He had seen most scenarios that can befall the human race whilst working at the hotel, he had seen birth, loss, grief, and love both blossoming and dying. That night a terrible storm raged, one of the worst to hit the island in many years……. As the wind howled and the rain lashed down on the island paradise, Hester had no choice but to follow the sad doctor outside into the raging storm, and watched as he cast a golden ring into the sea. He knew that the sad doctor was in love with his fiery best friend, he could tell by the way that he looked at her, as if she had hung the moon with only her fair hands. He knew that the doctor’s level of despair could only mean one thing……that she had refused him and had broken his heart”.

“Annnnne!” Gilbert sighed, rolling his eyes at her.

She smiled softly “The day after the young Doctor had left the island, Hester went outside at the break of dawn to say his morning prayers. Hester always stood ankle deep in the sea as the sun rose to say his prayers and on that particular morning, he prayed for the doctor and his best friend, and the child that he knew was on the way. He prayed that they would find their way back to each other and realise the love that they shared so deeply. As he prayed, his eyes closed and his face raised to the heavens, he felt something softly banging into his ankle in the shallow waves. He looked down and found the ring that he had seen the doctor cast into the sea two nights before. He knew it was the doctors ring because as he picked it up out of the water and examined it in the early morning light, he saw that it was engraved with a message on the inside that said ‘Anne Always’……”

Anne turned her big green eyes up to meet his, a tear in the corner of her lashes.

“He realised it was my ring from the inscription?” Gilbert gasped.

“Yes……he knew my name was Anne……and that you loved me…….” She trailed off and the tear rolled down her cheek. “Gil……you had that inscription inside the ring for all of those years?”

“Yes” he said and kissed her “I told you that there was nobody else for me but you……I always knew it, but I realised I could never love another after that night at the bar……I knew that I was irrevocably in love with you, that my heart was yours whether you wanted it or not. So the following afternoon I went to a jewellery store and bought the ring and had it engraved and every time I looked at it or felt it on my finger it was a reminder of how much I love you…..to me it was the only physical way I could manifest my love for you……I came to think of it as a kind of promise ring……that I was always yours…….and that I would wait for you, never mind how long it took……” he trailed off, tears were now freely coursing down her face “……I’m sorry is that a bit weird?”

She grabbed his face with both of her hands and kissed him deeply, suddenly she pulled away and choked “No ……..its the most romantic thing I have ever heard……” she squeaked, kissing him again and he smiled into her kiss. “I love you so much…….I’m so sorry I made you wait so long Gil…….I only had to wait a few months between when I realised I loved you and when I told you how I felt, and that was agonising enough……once I realised that your friendship was never going to be enough…….and I made you wait years……half your life in fact……I’m so sorry” she sobbed between kisses.

“Don’t cry Anne…….I love you too…..and yes it was agonising for me too, I would be a liar if I said that it was anything else, but we are here now, we got there we are together and we have Joy and Jem and all of our future together, and I could not be happier”.

“Me neither” was all she could say as his arms tightened around her and they kissed passionately.

“I have a bit of a confession too” he said once the kisses had turned lazy “ Can you remember the argument we had on that last afternoon before we came home, I was working in our room and you asked me about the ring?”

“Yeah” she breathed dreamily.

“After you went off to find Di, I took the ring off and left it on the dresser and went out?”

“Yeah, I remember”.

“I kind if left the ring out, hoping that you would see the inscription……. kind of hoping it would do the hard work for me……. That’s why I was late to meet you that evening as I was so shit scared that I had revealed myself…….and you would reject me” he said softly and looked nervously at her.

Anne had a far away look in her eyes as she remembered that evening “You looked nervous and then gave me the heart necklace……you said ‘Always’” she whispered, her eyes refocusing on her husband. “You were trying to tell me even then and I was too blind to see it”.

He nodded “Yep” he smiled, making a popping sound with the ‘p’ “Although I have to admit I was pretty piss poor at communicating it too you……I’m not really surprised that you missed it”. He laced his fingers back through hers and looked at the ring again. “So, Hester gave you the ring?”

“Yeah, he kept it all year and prayed over it. When you contacted him about the proposal idea, he knew that he could give it back to us when we went back with Joy last year. He pulled me aside the day after we got engaged, and told me how he had come by it and thought that I may want to use it…….as a wedding ring.” She grinned at him and kissed the ring on his finger.

“I can’t believe it washed back ashore and right into Hester’s feet!”

“It’s just another sign Gil……destiny wants us to be together.”

“What do you think would have happened if Joy hadn’t have come along? If we hadn’t have slept together on holiday…….Do you think we would have still gotten together?”

“Always” she smiled up at him and ran a hand through his hair “'Always Gil'….I want to have that engraved on my ring when we get home" she smiled and held her left hand up to him, he kissed her shiny new ring. "We will always find each other in which ever universe we may find ourselves in……..we love each other too much to ever be apart”.

Chapter Text

“Where the heck are we going Gil?” Anne laughed as she held onto his hand in the back of the same car that had taken them to Kingsport on their wedding day. It was a few days after their wedding and they were on their way to the next part of their honeymoon. They had crossed the Confederation Bridge but had turned the opposite way along the highway to Avonlea, where she had assumed they would go to reunite with the children.

“At least I am not making you wear a blindfold……although I did pack that to bring home with us” he laughed. “Maybe we can use it tonight Mrs Blythe” he wiggled his eyebrows at her cheekily.

She smirked at him and the eager blush that was spreading across his cheeks. They had stayed for a long weekend in his old dorm room and had not stepped foot out of the apartment, they had only gotten out of bed to answer the door to the takeout delivery guy and to shower together every now and again. She ran a hand through his hair and kissed him lightly and then whispered in his ear, her warm breath on his neck causing his skin to raise in a flash of goose bumps, “You are insatiable Dr Blythe……..we have never had so much sex in such a short time……I’m surprised I could walk down the stairs” she giggled.

“Well at least we have no laundry to do when we get back” he laughed “You only wore two things, my old football shirt or nothing at all” he whispered back to her and kissed her sweet spot on her neck, his hand circling around her waist and sending the now familiar bolts of electricity through her body with only the gentlest of touches. God, he drove her mad. She caught hold of his face and pulled him up to meet her lips and angled his head so she could kiss him deeply.

“It’s a bloody good job the rest of the building was empty…...you were not very quiet Mrs Blythe” he chuckled. "We certainly didn't keep the 'fucking' noise down this weekend" he raised a cheeky eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, well my husband is particularly good in the sack……so It’s his fault not mine” she smiled at him.

“Oh really” he said airily “he’s a lucky fellow……. was it just in the sack……or was it on the sofa……in the kitchen…...or across the desk and in the shower?” every pause punctuated with a suggestive kiss.

“All of the above” she laughed softly “Just about every surface that there was actually……I wanted to make all of his dreams come true.”

He smiled against her lips “My wife is very thoughtful……you two would get on, she is exceptionally intelligent, wonderfully kind, beyond beautiful, inside and out …….and she’s as feisty as fuck and she really turns me on…...” he laughed as she playfully batted his arm and shushed him, even though the privacy screen between them and the driver was in place.

He cupped her cheek with his hand and his eyes softened “Really though Carrots, I’ve had the time of my life……I will never forget these few precious days together…….and going back to my old place just blew my mind” he kissed her lightly and happiness radiated from him as his eyes twinkled and her heart flip flopped in her chest. “You have made all of my dreams come true……and I don’t mean just the sex……admittedly I did dream about doing all of the things that we did together in that room before we were together…...ALOT” he chuckled softly and looked slightly embarrassed. If only she knew the extent of his x rated dreams about her, even she would be shocked. “I can’t tell you how many times I went to sleep in that bed, cuddling a pillow, dreaming it was you. And then when we started sharing a bed platonically…..you have no idea, how many times I wanted to tell you how in love with you I was…….But to be able to tell you now that I love you, and to hold you, knowing that you are mine, after all of those lonely years spent thinking about you in that room…….It meant so much to me Anne”.

“You weren’t that lonely Gilbert Blythe……..have you forgotten about the 100’s of women you spent the night with there” she teased him and he rolled his eyes.

“You know that that was not what it seemed…….and even though I never led anybody on, I do regret that….. I still wish it was you. In fact, I did wish it was you……every time” he confessed. “And it was not 100’s……not by a long shot”.

“I know……I’m only teasing you……In fact, if I had my time again…….” she pondered for a minute and then smiled at him, her cheeks dimpling beautifully “……...Instead of hitting you with my atlas when you called me Carrots…….” she narrowed her eyes playfully at him” ……I would have grabbed your pretty goddamn face and kissed you senseless” she said airily making him grin at her.

“Really?” he laughed, his eyebrows in his hairline.

“Yeah really…….then all of our firsts would have been together”.

“I wouldn’t have had to have saved you in the lake of shining waters either, as I would have already taught you to swim …….in just our underwear……..although we would have spent more time making out in the water than swimming” he breathed, his eyes darkening.

“And I would have kissed your face off in the snow when we were paintballing”.

“And I would have enjoyed my 80’s Christmas party A LOT more with you”.

“We would have had a great time at Prom too……we could have just stayed in our room all night”.

“You looked fucking amazing that night”…..he moved his hand to her lower back “Jesus Anne, that backless dress you wore……I practically drooled when I saw you walk in…….no wonder Josie dumped me!” he pulled an anguished face.

“Is that why she dumped you that night?”

“She caught me yelling at Danny……. about how amazing you are……I was so angry and jealous that he had just slept with you……I roughed him up a bit and threatened to kick the shit out of him…...and she saw that, and kind of put two and two together……she realised I was in love with you”.

Anne turned to him and saw that his eyes were downcast. She put a finger under his chin and turned his head to look at her. “Why didn’t we just tell each other what we felt……we could have saved all of that heartache……I can’t believe Josie saw it before I did…….and here I was thinking that I was more emotionally intelligent that Miss Pye was!” she rolled her eyes at herself.

Gilbert leant down and kissed his wife. “She’s actually a big softie underneath all of her prickles……I wouldn’t have stayed with her as long as I did if she was half the bitch that she tries to make out that she is…….it’s all a protective armour. I’m just glad she and Charlie are happy together now…….she deserves it”.

They were silent for a few moments before Anne continued “We could have roomed together all the way through college”.

“Yeah, and we probably would have been parents 9 months after your 16th birthday” he laughed. She smiled and cuddled into him.

“I’ve had a great few days, but I’ve missed the kids”. She sighed.

He kissed the top of her head “Me too…..but I had to make the most of you…..we will have Joy and Jem with us for the rest of our honeymoon…..its not like I’ll be able to have you on the sofa with the kids around”.

“It was actually our first time we have been able to be together like that since we have been together, well since our agreement in Antigua. The rest of the time we have always had Joy to consider. We need to make sure that we always make time for each other Gil. That we don’t let the kids and work get in the way of us……we should try to make sure that we have a dirty weekend away together every now and again without the kids.”

“You will have no arguments from me on that my love” he kissed her and ran his hand up underneath her skirt.

“Gilbert Blythe!” she shrieked as his hand found its destination. He silenced her with a passionate kiss.

“We still have about 15 minutes in the car……..we can make the most of them if you want…….but you WILL need to be quiet on this occasion”. He whispered throatily in her ear.

She grabbed him and nodded mutely against his lips. He didn’t need telling twice.

Xx

She looked over at him disbelievingly as he held his hand out to her to help her up.

Twenty minutes earlier her intrigue had been peaked beyond even her imagination when the sleek black limousine had pulled up into a dirty farm yard and the driver had opened the door for her to get out, holding out a pair of wellington boots for her to change into. Now she stood in a stable yard. Looking at a horse with a buggy attached to it.

“Are you actually kidding me?” she laughed as she took his offered hand and stepped up onto the buggy.

“Nope” he grinned at her and dashed around to the other side and climbed up himself. He took the reins in his hands and laughed at her slightly terrified face as she clung onto the front of the buggy. “I cannot believe you have never done this before……I was practically raised with horses” he said as he clicked his tongue and the chestnut coloured horse that was called ‘Butterscotch’ stepped forward making the carriage that Anne and Gilbert were sitting in jerk forward slightly as the horse started off down the dusty red track. He laughed again as her eyes were as big as saucers, he flicked the reins and clicked again, encouraging Butterscotch to speed up to a trot.

“Gil!” Anne shrieked as they bounced along the country lane.

He put both of the reins into one hand and reached out to hold her hand with his other one. “It’s ok Carrots……I know what I am doing…….just sit back and enjoy the ride”, he pulled her closer and wrapped his arm around her. He felt her body relax, obviously feeling safer wrapped in his arms. His heart swelled with love for her.

“Better?” he asked a few minutes later when he could tell that she had fully relaxed and had pointed out a few of her favourite trees and flowers in the gardens and fields that they passed.

“Oh Gil…….this is beautiful” she murmured with wonderment in her voice as they trotted along together. “This is truly the most romantical thing I have ever done…….I could get used to this……this is how this magical island that we grew up on should be enjoyed…….at a much slower pace…..I can actually smell the wild flowers in the meadow we just passed…….we could be living a hundred years ago Gil” she closed her eyes and lifted her face to the fading sun, still leaning into him, her hand now on his thigh as they drove along together.

“I actually have some family history in this area, I had a great, great, great uncle that lived here over a hundred years ago called David Blythe, or Doctor Dave…..he had his medical practice out here, in Glen St Mary. He delivered all of the babies in this area for over half a century” he grinned. “He was a bit of a legend apparently; half of the male population of the town were called ‘Dave’ after him. There was even a few years when all of the men on the parochial church council were all called Dave….the meetings got very confusing I am told.” He laughed.

She turned her face to her husband “There have been one or two ‘Gilberts’ born at the Toronto General Maternity ward as well I believe” she laughed and looked up at him proudly as he shuddered.

“Poor little sods” he winced, his eyes still ahead of him on the country lane as they trotted through an avenue of cherry trees in full blossom, beautiful enough to even rival the White Way of Delight. Anne held her hand out of the carriage to lightly skim the blooms with her palm as they passed the blossoms.

Anne would never forget the loveliness of the view that broke upon them when they had driven over the hill behind the village, before her lay the Four Winds Harbour that shone like a great mirror of silver and rose. There was a little fishing village, nestled in the cove where the sand dunes met the harbour shore.

The sky above them was streaked with jewelled colours, the air was crisp and smelt of the sea. A few white sails drifted along the darkening shores and a bell was ringing from the tower of a little white church on the far side: mellow and dreamy and sweet, the chime floated across the water and blended with the moan of the sea.

Gilbert pulled the reigns and steadied the horse “Woah” he said in a deep and gentle voice as the horse pulled to a stop. Anne looked up at him and followed his gaze to a house that to Anne looked like a big creamy seashell stranded on the harbour shore. There was a row of tall Lombardy poplars down its lane and behind it was a wood.

Gilbert pointed to the little white house on the shore. “There it is……our Honeymoon home…..our own little love nest for us Anne……its a bit out of the way, but It looks to the sunset over the harbour…..the sand dunes are not far away. We can take the children to have picnics on the beach……. It has the most splendid living room………. with a fireplace in it down stairs and a dining room that looks out onto the harbour………Its about 200 years old, the oldest in four winds……apparently there is a romantic story attached to it and only the old man that lives in the lighthouse knows it…….you can see it revolving from the living room……and there is the most delightful garden……..with a brook that cuts across the corner…..we can take Joy fishing, with a little bucket and net, just like my Dad used to with me……..sorry…..I’m rambling” he gushed “I have been so excited to show it to you since I found it”.

Anne looked up at him, her green eyes rimmed with tears “Gil, its perfect……” she took his hand in hers and kissed his knuckles “This is my house of dreams” she gasped in awe, he couldn’t have found a more perfect and romantic getaway for them and their little family. He leant down and kissed her softly and then urged the horse to continue along the poplar lined lane. The front door to the house opened and warm glow of the firelight flickered out into the dusk. Gilbert rushed down from the buggy and ran around to Anne’s side, where he lifted Anne down from the buggy and kissed her tenderly, he laced his fingers through hers and led her into the garden, through the little gate and along the red sandstone path.

Xx

Gilbert had barely stepped foot into the little white house before he was nearly knocked over by a small girl with chocolate brown curls and chubby cheeks, still sticky with jam, who raced down the hall and into his legs, throwing her little arms around him. “DADA!” she cried as he bent to lift her up and smothered her messy face with kisses.

“Oh I’ve missed you my Little Joy” he sighed into her curls as they embraced tightly. He didn’t bother to try and put her down as she was attached to him like a limpet. Anne leaned over and kissed her cheek and Joy reached out her arm to embrace her mother too. They stood there for a few moments in a three-way hug, until Bash came up behind them from outside after securing the horse for the night. The local farmer who Gilbert had hired it from, was due to drive her back in the morning.

“Hello BLYTHES” he boomed, making them all laugh and Mary who was feeding Baby Jem a bottle on the couch shushed him, so he didn’t startle the baby. Anne came over to join Mary who passed her the baby and Anne kissed her sons red curls on top of his head as she took over feeding Jem from her breast with a relieved sigh.

“How was the honeymoon man?” Bash boomed again, a naughty twinkle in his eyes. Gilbert was thankful for his twenty month old daughter in his arms, knowing that even Bash wouldn’t be too crude in front of Joy. “I bet you are exhausted heh?” he nudged him playfully and Gilbert rolled his eyes.

“Sebastian!” Mary warned, as she got up and started moving around the kitchen and pulling something delicious smelling from the oven.

“So can we expect another happy announcement in a week or two…..that’s what normally happens isn’t it when you two go on holiday together……this moke normally forgets to put something on the end of it”. He laughed at his own joke just as Delly wandered into the kitchen and said “On the end of what Daddy?”

Gilbert turned and smirked at his brother “Yeah, what are you on about Bro……on the end of what now?” he asked innocently, enjoying watching Bash squirm.

“Er……er……er” Bash stammered “His nose?” was the best he could come up with and Mary gave him a look that was thunderous.

“Delly, can you help set the table please, dinner is ready now” Mary said and after quickly hugging Anne and Gilbert, Delly happily obliged her mother’s request, seemingly forgetting about her father’s comment.

Mary and Bash had brought Joy and Jem as well as all of Anne and Gilberts luggage over to the cottage that Gilbert had rented for the rest of their honeymoon. Neither Anne nor Gilbert wanted to be away from their young children for too long and so a holiday on the island was a perfect compromise.

They enjoyed a meal together, Jem down in his cot for the night and Joy still surgically attached to her father, sitting on his knee at the table, fast asleep in his arms as he tried to eat his meal with only one hand. Eventually as the table was cleared, Gilbert managed to settle Joy in her bed for the night and then he returned to the table for dessert. They laughed and joked about anything and everything as families always do, and reminisced about the wedding until Delly’s eyes were drooping and the LaCroix’s decided it was time to get her the 60 miles or so back home to bed in Avonlea.

They were just saying the last of their farewells when a sleepy Delly looked up at her father as he carried her out of the little white house. “Daddy?” she yawned.

“Yes, my sweet girl” he answered.

“Why would Uncle Gilby have to put something on the end of his nose?......is it to stop Auntie Anne from getting another baby in her tummy?......is that where babies come from?”

All four adults froze as still as statues, there eyes wide and their mouths slightly open.

A resounding silence filling the room.

Delly looked around the room at them all and Anne pressed her lips together and started to giggle, her hand came up to cover her mouth and her shoulders shook in mirth.

Bash looked at Gilbert for support, his mouth flapping open and closed, not knowing what to say to his inquisitive daughter. Gilbert started to laugh too.

“Er……why don’t you ask your uncle Gilbert he’s a doctor…….” Bash started but was quickly interrupted when Gilbert held his hand up to his brother, tears of laughter now running down his face.

“Oh no you don’t……this is on you……” he said pointing at Bash. He turned his attention to Delly “Daddy will tell you all about it on the way home sweetheart…….a little bedtime story for you” he laughed and Mary just shook her head and covered her face with her hands as she started to laugh too.

With that Gilbert ushered them out of the little white house and firmly closed the door. He turned to his wife with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and a teasing smile on his lips.

“I’m feeling like a being a bit of a forgetful moke tonight” he raised his eye brow at her and took a step towards her, he gave her his best smouldering eyes that made her heart race and her knees go weak “fancy joining me?” he teased taking another step towards her.

“God yeah” she breathed sexily and looked up at him coquettishly “You know how much I enjoy it when you don’t put anything on the end of your……..’nose’” she laughed. He suddenly lunged towards her, but she squealed and ran towards the stairs as she looked over her shoulder at him, “Race ya” she laughed as they tore through the house together and towards their bedroom in peals of laughter.

Chapter Text

Two weeks later……

“Here we are Mrs Blythe, we are home” he smiled lovingly at her as he unlocked the front door of their Toronto apartment and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the end of her nose. She placed Joy on the floor who then darted straight into the apartment to look for ‘Ust’, whom she had desperately missed. Anne wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck, her fingers playing with the soft curls there.

“Gil!” she laughed as he suddenly swooped down and picked her up bridal style and stepped over the threshold with her in his arms as she threw her head back and laughed, her beautiful red hair spilling loosely over his arm as she did so. He leant down and kissed her, her hand coming up to cup his cheek as he did so and they kissed each other lovingly. She opened her eyes to look into his, she was still so utterly bewitched by them, they were radiating happiness and warmth and a life time of love and her heart flip flopped like it did whenever he looked at her like that.

“I think you are a wizard” she murmured, still in his arms and lost in his eyes, “you have put a spell on me with those eyes and I am completely captivated by you”.

“If I were, I would have put said spell on you the day that I met you my love” he murmured back, nudging her nose gently with his, his eyes flashed green and gold, making her heart pound even more. She pulled his face down to her and kissed him again.

“You have made me so happy Gil……I have never felt so utterly loved in my whole life……I wish I could give you those years back, that we could have been together all that time.” He released her legs and let her slip down his body as her feet touched the floor again, but he still held her close.

“Anne, we are here where we were always supposed to be…….I wouldn’t change a thing, we love each other deeply because of what we have been through to get to this point in our lives”.

“I know now that this is what I always wanted Gil……and it was always right in front of me……but I wish I hadn’t broken your heart to get here…….”

He silenced her with a gentle kiss “I wouldn’t change a thing……even the broken heart…….to be with you now in this moment was worth all of that ten times over, every tear, every argument, every trip and every stumble along our path has led me to be right here…….with you” he hugged her tightly. “Anne, I thought that you would never love me……and yet here I am……you are my wife…….I never thought I would have this love……..so if that is the road that God or fate or destiny, or whatever you want to call it made me take to be with you…..like this…..” he chuckled and gestured around him, as Joy returned down the hall with an annoyed looking Rusty in her little arms “…….then who am I to argue” he pressed a kiss to her lips and she smiled up at him.

“Its ok Gil……you can call it as it was…..I was a bit of a B.I.T.C.H” she spelt out for Joys sake.

“Stop will you……its because of our history that we are so strong, we have both nearly lost each other……and it has only made us stronger. AND even though I am a man of science, I do believe that destiny had a plan for us, and that whatever universe we find ourselves in……whether we are born in the 1870’s or meet on a space ship……...whatever our story is, it will always begin with ‘Carrots’ and there will always be an Mrs Anne Blythe at the end it”. He smiled happily at her and pulled away from her so that he could get Jem out of his stroller and held him on his hip. Joy immediately put Rusty down and held her arms up to her father, jealous that he had picked Jem up.

“Dada, me Joy…….me Joy now” she pestered, starting to scramble up his jeans. Gilbert bent down and scooped her up with one arm, so he now had a child on each hip. He grinned at her “And just so you know……. You have made me beyond happy too…….and these little terrors…..” he growled at them and suddenly rushed around the house with his children in his arms, both of them squealing and laughing their heads off at his silliness. He collapsed onto the couch as Anne held her phone up and filmed him as Joy and Jem jumped all over him, tickling and kissing their father.

Rusty did his usual, and sat on the arm of the sofa with his back to the mele, his ears twitching backwards as he sulked for being left alone whilst his people went on holiday without him. A dead mouse on his master’s pillow awaiting to be discovered, as a token of his displeasure.

Xx

“Oh Hi Winnie, I didn’t hear you come in” Gilbert blushed as he wandered into the kitchen in just his pyjama pants and tried to cover his bare chest up slightly with his hands and then gave up as Anne began laughing at him. The two women were sitting at the breakfast table enjoying a coffee together, Joy was on Winnie's knee and promptly got off and waddled over to Gilbert to be picked up, which he did, barely registering the action. Joy was without a doubt a Daddy’s girl, something Gilbert was very proud of. In fact, he proudly told everybody that she bonded with him from the minute he had delivered her, as she had stopped crying as soon as she was passed to him in the delivery suite.

He kissed her curly head and she snuggled into him, resting her head on his shoulder and sucking her thumb. Being a Daddy’s girl was all well and good until it was time for him to leave the house to go to work, and Joy would temporarily turn into a little monster as she kicked off at his departure. Anne was excellent at dealing with her daughters strops and knew exactly how to distract her. But it never got any easier for Gilbert though, as it broke his heart every morning to close the front door and walk away whilst hearing his daughter holler for him as he walked along the path. Anne was also excellent at dealing with Gilbert too……she sent him a photo of Joy playing with her play dough or tucking into her applesauce on toast within a few minutes of him leaving the house so he could get on with his day and have his mind clear knowing that she was ok.

Gilbert moved around the kitchen making himself some toast as the two women continued to talk at the table.

“I think that sounds a great idea Anne……. what does Dr Dreamboat here think?” Winnie was saying.

Gilbert looked around at Anne and rolled his eyes. Now Winnie knew all about the silly nicknames Anne and Di used for him, she was bound to join in too. Winnie and Anne had become great friends now and more often than not, Winnie was always Team Anne whenever they had a joint decision to make or were bickering about something silly.

Anne looked at him a little apprehensively “I haven’t actually discussed it with him yet”.

“What’s that?” Gilbert asked turning around to look at them, Joy still in one arm and buttering his toast with the other. “Sounds a bit ominous”.

They had been back from their honeymoon for a few months now and something that Gilbert had said to her on the day of their return home had resonated with her, and for the first time in a while had gotten her creative juices flowing again. Anne was still working as a journalist for Toronto Today and had written a few pieces between having Joy and Jem, but she had effectively been on maternity leave since giving birth to Joy and moving back to Toronto.

Anne got up and passed Jem to Winnie for a cuddle and tried to take Joy off Gilbert, she should have known better as the little girl just firmly said “No” and turned her face away from Anne. Anne nudged Gilbert out of the way with her hip and indicated for him to sit at the table with Winnie, as she took over making his breakfast for him.

He sat down with a worried look on his face. “Are you trying to butter me up Carrots” he smirked as she passed him his buttered toast with some eggs on the plate too “Trying to get to my heart through my stomach?” he quirked tucking in one handed to his breakfast which he was now becoming proficient in.

“No……well I don’t think so……. I’ve had another idea for a new story, well a novel really” she said shyly. Winnie grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

“That’s great!” Gilbert exclaimed, happy for her, but then his face fell “Why are you worried about telling me that?”

“Well, my last two books were really children’s books……. yes, adults enjoyed them too, but I was thinking for my next book I would like it to be more ……adult”.

“’Adult!?’” Gilbert questioned looking alarmed and choking slightly on his toast.

“Get your head out of the gutter Dr Dirtymind” Winnie laughed, guessing correctly what he thought when Anne had said ‘adult’.

“Gilbert honestly” Anne rolled her eyes at him. “No, I thought I wanted to write a romance novel……possibly set around the turn of the century…….I have even gotten Miss Stacey…..I mean Muriel on board, as a historical consultant, you know she runs the Avonlea historical society…….it was something you said actually that has inspired me, when we came back from our honeymoon remember?.......about destiny, and alternate universes……..well I have been working for the last couple of weeks when the kids are both down for their naps on a new story…… a love story, a tragical romance of sorts……”.

Gilberts smile was widening as she rambled on, he loved to see her all fired up about something. “Well that great! I still don’t see why you are nervous about telling me about that” he looked perplexed and then added “Is it because you want some help with the kids so you can spend more time writing?…….we can get some help if you want. I want you to be happy and fulfilled Anne, I don’t expect you to give up your career because of the kids” He offered still eating his toast happily.

“No…..its not that really……in fact I hadn’t even thought about that, the story is still very much in the planning stages……”

“Oh?”

She bit her lip a bit nervously, she saw her husband’s eyes darken as she looked up at him. “Its just that……well even though the story will be a period piece, I want to write the characters so that they will be very relatable to a modern audience…...you see……they will be kind of based on my own experiences…..as in yours and mine’s …..erm our experiences…..together”.

“Oh” Gilbert said again, his brows furrowing and he put his toast down. She had kind of written about him before, about their childhood trials and tribulations. He had always thought it quite amusing and somewhat telling that she had called his character ‘Herbert’. As in ‘her’ ‘Bert’. But he had a feeling that this story would be different, delving into some aspects of their painful past that he possibly did not want published for all of the world to see. Some of the nurses on his ward already knew that he was Anne Shirley’s ‘Herbert’ in her previous novels and often light heartedly took the piss out of him about it. It wouldn’t take a genius to guess that she was also now writing about her husband this time in a new more adult story.

“Oh” was all could say again.

Winnie read the room and stood up and passed Jem back to Anne, kissing her on the cheek lightly “Erm, I’m going to scoot my lovelies……see you at work later Dr Don’toverthinkit” she kissed his and Joys cheeks too before letting herself out of the apartment.

Anne moved over and sat next to him and took his hand “Do you mind Gil?…….you are not cross are you?”

He raised both of his eyebrows and looked at her, Joy now softly snoring in his arms. “I guess I don’t know what to think……I suppose it depends on how much detail you go into.”

“I would never write anything that you would not be happy with and I don’t know myself yet how detailed it will be…….I haven’t felt this strongly about a story though for years Gil, and I’m really excited about it…….can I give it a chance…….I will show you of course and get your approval before it gets anywhere near my publisher”.

“Well I guess so then” he smiled up at her and stroked her cheek “I’m pleased you are writing again Anne, I want you to do things that are just for you……I don’t expect you to just float around this house looking after me whilst I go out and have a fulfilling career…….you have worked so hard to get to where you are and I want you to be happy too. I’m so proud of you Carrots”.

He felt Rusty push his wet nose against his ankle and he chuckled and looked down at the cat’s big green eyes looking up at him “No, not you you berk!” he laughed again as Rusty stalked off with his tail in the air, giving it an annoyed twitch as he went.

Xx

“So how did you meeting with your publisher go Anne” Diana asked as she took a wax crayon out of Fred Jr’s mouth and wagged her finger at him.

“Really well…….they told me that I will be working with one of their new editors, well a guest editor really……you’ll never guess who it is” Anne grinned as she wiped a little dribble of yoghurt from Jem’s chin. “Joy, stop giving Freddy the crayons”.

Diana looked at the look on her bosom friend’s face, she had never seen her look happier, her green eyes turned towards her, sparkling with excitement.

“I have not a clue……I can barely remember my own name at the moment…..” she yawned. Diana had always loved her sleep and didn’t function well on less than 10 hours a night, which didn’t happen very often with a 10 month old baby.

“OK, I’ll give you a clue…….we used to read his books in high school…….”

“Er……” Diana yawned again.

“He’s a world-renowned author Di……you know Lily and Fitzwilliam……bodice rippers?” Anne tried to jog her friend’s memory.

“Noooo!” Diana gasped, the penny dropping at last “Jack Garrison…….THE Jack Garrison?…….of the ‘Lady of The Flowers’ fame?”

Anne nodded a grin on her face.

“Are you frickin kidding me?” Diana’s eyes had gone as wide as saucers “I had such a massive crush on him when we were at school”.

“Frickin…..frickin…..chicken” Joy chatted from her place on the rug where she was playing with Fred Jr.

“Joy!” Anne scolded and her daughter just grinned at her, her hazel eyes swirling with mischief just like her fathers.

Diana chuckled “She’s so like Gilbert……I can’t imagine what it’s like having a mini Gilbert Blythe around the house all the time……well actually I can, he was just the same when he was nearly two” she laughed ruffling Joys chocolate curls as Fred Jr tried to stick the crayon Joy had just handed to him up his nose.

“Yeah so Jack…..” Diana prompted, the girls had gotten used to having their conversations constantly interrupted by parenting duties. If they got to actually finish a sentence without either being interrupted by a child or having to step in to stop a squabble or two, they felt as if the day had been a successful one.

“Yeah, he’s a guest editor at my publishing house, and as he’s like the master of historical drama’s, he’s been assigned as my editor for this project” Anne trilled excitedly “We are having a lunch meeting tomorrow!”

“Oh my God that’s so exciting!” Diana gushed “What are you going to wear?”

“I thought my ……Joy, don’t snatch…...green sage wrap dress”.

“Oh yes you look stunning in that……Who’s looking after the kids?”

“Well actually……” Anne blushed “Do you think you could have them for a couple of hours for me please?”

“Anne I……”

“You know how fussy Joy is about who looks after her……she barely tolerates anybody who isn’t Gil”.

“I’m sorry Anne……I’ve got Freddy’s check up with the health visitor at 12.30……If you had given me more notice……Fred Jr! No!.....I would of course of had them for you”.

Anne bit her bottom lip with her teeth, she really didn’t want to miss this meeting or rearrange it “Maybe I can ask Gil if he can look after them in his office” she wondered out loud.

“Have you considered getting a nanny or some help Anne?”

“Gil did mention that a few weeks ago when I embarked on this project…….I wouldn’t know where to start looking for somebody though” she held Jem closer to her chest “ I don’t know who I trust to look after them Di……I don’t really want a stranger looking after my babies”.

“Anne there are so many well trained childcare professionals out there……they are all background checked……it’s what every other parent does, or you could send them to day care”.

“I don’t really fancy day care…….” Anne petered off as Joy tugged at her arm.

“Cookie Mama, cookie……. Dada…...cookie”.

“………ok, go get one then……..I suppose I could look into it”. She said half distracted.

“I can ask around and see if I can find you a recommendation……see if anybody at work knows of anybody……I’ll send a text out now on the group chat”.

Anne rolled her eyes as she heard a crash in the kitchen, and darted in there, just as Joy started wailing.

“Joy what have you done?” she said lifting her daughter in to her arms as she cried “I wanna Dada”.

“You ok in there?” Diana yelled from the sitting room.

“Yeah……Joy has just broken the cookie jar”. She put Joy down and started cleaning away the debris of Gilberts Chewbacca cookie jar.

“I wanna Dada” Joy wailed again.

“Dada at work Joy, he’ll be home soon”.

“Dada sad……Joy make Dada sad?” Joy sniffed.

“No darling, Dada won’t be sad, Don’t worry sweetie”.

“Joy did it”.

“I know sweet girl……don’t worry, it was just an accident, Mummy should have come to help you……just tell Daddy you are sorry. How about I take you to the art shop at the weekend and we can paint him a new one…..as a surprise”.

“Me wanna, me wanna” Joy chirped wiping her nose on the sleeve of her little pink cardigan that she was wearing.

“Remember don’t tell him and we will surprise him” Anne nodded in confirmation and Joy smiled and hugged her Mummy before charging back into the living room to play with Fred Jr and Jem.

An hour or so later Diana was just getting her coat on to go home when they heard Gilberts key in the front door.

“I’m home” he called cheerfully and Joy jumped off Anne’s knee and charged around the corner into the hall to greet her father.

“Me broked the Bacca Dada…….me wworry” she said hugging his knees and he threw his work bag on the floor and picked her up.

“You broke the cookie jar” He laughed understanding what his daughter was saying to him. “Oh dear” he sighed theatrically. “Me wworry” Joy said again looking at her Daddy with her big hazel eyes and his heart melted “Joy sad”.

“That’s ok sweetheart” he kissed her head.

“Me an Mama paint new won morrow” she chirped grinning at him.

“Joy, that was supposed to be a surprise you ninny” Anne laughed coming around the corner. Gilbert put Joy on his hip and pulled Anne in for a kiss. He kissed her full on the lips longingly “I missed you Mrs Blythe” he whispered in her ear. Her heart hammered and her stomach filled with butterflies, the usual response to his kisses. She pulled him in for another kiss and Joy giggled at her loving parents, making them both smile against each other’s lips.

“Silly Dada……silly Mama” Joy giggled, giving herself a little double chin, she threw her little arms around their necks and hugged them both, blowing a fat raspberry on Gilberts cheek.

Diana stood in the doorway with her arms folded softly and a warm smile on her face, tears forming in her eyes at the happy and loving display in front of her. She was so utterly happy for her best friends. They both deserved to be so happy together. Gilbert lightly embraced Diana. “Alright Wrighty?” he asked her taking his coat off and then going to take her coat off as well that she had just put on. ”Wanna stay for dinner? I can text Freddo to just come straight over here……its ages since I’ve seen you”. Anne grinned at her and nodded.

“Ok, you have twisted my arm then”. Diana laughed.

“How’s Minfred?” Gilbert said putting a disgruntled Joy down to pick Fred Jr up and blow a raspberry on his tummy, making the little boy laugh. Gilbert had started calling Fred Junior ‘Minifred’ as it sounded like Winifred and with his red face and bald head he was indeed a ‘mini Fred’.

“You and your silly names……” Diana scolded, rolling her eyes. Gilbert just smirked at her and tickled the babies toes.

“You can talk……all of the Dr D’s you have called me over the years…….I think my favourite is Dr Dreamboat” he laughed. Now picking Jem up and kissing his cheek and making wide eyed smiley faces at him. “Oh, I have missed you all today” he cooed, Jem giving him a toothy smile.

xx

After they had eaten, the men were laying on the floor with the children wriggling all over them whilst Diana and Anne chatted whilst doing the washing up.

“You never finished telling me about the delicious Jack Garrison”. Diana whispered conspiratorially.

“I haven’t met him yet, tomorrow will be the first time”.

“At least Gil can work from home tomorrow so you can have your lunch meeting now”.

“Yeah that was a stroke of luck…..I think you are right though, I think maybe we need to think about getting a bit of help with childcare. We don’t need a lot, but a few hours a week would be a real help.”

“Ok well, have a look around online and I think the local council has a list of registered child care professionals.”

“Perhaps next time you meet with Mr Garrison, I can come with you” Diana suggested.

Anne laughed as she passed a soapy glass to Diana to dry. “Don’t you start Diana Wright…..you are a happily married woman may I remind you”.

Diana pulled a scandalised face “Of course I am” then she smirked “Looking doesn’t hurt though” she laughed and Anne rolled her eyes. “Is he single?.....I heard he’s a bit of a one with the ladies”.

“Di!” Anne laughed “I have no idea, and I will not be asking before you ask”.

Diana sighed dreamily and looked into the middle distance “He was our first author crush Anne…..the way he always wrote his hero’s…..wow….if he is anywhere near as romantic in real life as he is in his books…..just wow…….its a good job that Gilbert snapped you up when he did”.

“There was no snapping involved Di……that would imply it happened quickly and that was SO not the case as you well know.” Anne laughed. “It will be a purely professional relationship Di”.

Diana winked at her. Anne knew she was just teasing her.

Chapter Text

The following day, Anne was pacing up and down the hall chewing her nails anxiously. “Where the hell is he” she muttered, glancing at the door. “Come on Gilbert, hurry the fuck up……I really do not want to miss this meeting”. She said quietly to herself and the back of the closed apartment door.

She checked her reflection in the hallway mirror. Her hair was glossy and falling in soft waves past her shoulders, longer than she had had it for a while, just falling down to below her breasts. She knew that Gilbert loved her hair, and the longer it was the better as far as he was concerned. He always pulled it forwards when they were in bed together and he couldn’t keep his hands out of it. He still regularly braided it for her when he was stressed. She had decided to go with her favourite green wrap dress. She had come to think of it as her lucky dress, as that was what she was wearing the evening that she confessed her love for Gilbert. She applied another coat of red lipstick and pressed her lips together just as she heard Gilberts key on the front door.

“Oh, thank God……” she started, just as he said “Anne, I’m so sorry I’m late….”

They both smiled and he went to kiss her, but she turned her face slightly so that he caught her cheek and not her red coated lips. She saw him frown slightly at her.

“Did you just swerve me, Shirley?” he asked jokingly.

She just rolled her eyes at him “Yes……and it’s your fault…..you are late, and so I don’t have time to reapply my make up after you have kissed half of it off my face” she said sounding more irritated with him that she had meant to, as she rushed around picking her bag up with her laptop in it. She was in such a rush to be out of the door that she didn’t notice the way his eyebrows furrowed slightly and a flash of hurt shot through his eyes.

“Oh” was all he got to say before she had rushed out of the door and closed it behind her without even saying goodbye to him. He stood there in the empty hallway, his coat still on and his work bag on his shoulder looking at the back of the now closed apartment door. “Good luck then…….hope it goes well for you” he said dejectedly to the back of the door “…….I love you”. He shook his head and raised his eyebrows up and down to himself as he hung his coat and bag up by the door, a vague memory flitting through his mind of the many hundreds of times he had done that in the past, before he was brave enough to tell her he loved her to her face.

“Dada?” he heard Joy call for him from the kitchen.

“Yes, Daddy’s home”.

“Yay!” Joy cheered as she raced around the corner to greet him, her chicken sandwich still in her hand, which she immediately threw on the floor as she literally launched herself at him. He laughed and kissed her cheek as he caught her in his arms.

“Well, I’m glad someone is at least happy to see me……come on, where’s Jem?” He walked into the kitchen to find Jem strapped into his high chair, eating his pasta in tomato sauce, not a drop of sauce on him. He grinned happily at his father, the rest of the kitchen was as spick and span as ever (Marilla would proud he couldn’t help but think), how Anne had managed to feed the kids and get so beautifully dressed up all at the same time was utterly beyond him. He always got into a right mess whenever he was left to feed Jem, with usually more sauce on his sons face and on Anne’s freshly mopped floors than in Jem’s tummy. She had looked beautiful when he opened the door and saw her standing there scowling at him, a trace of that look in her eye that she had had the instant before she had whacked him with her atlas all those years ago he remembered. He frowned to himself slightly, she was very dressed up in fact……she looked amazing……. her hair…. just wow, he loved how long it was at the moment, just how she used to wear it when they were in high school.

He was so busy thinking about how beautiful his wife was, and what a lucky man he was, that he missed, Jem throwing his pasta all over the clean floor and missed how Rusty ran through the mess, trying to run off with the rejected food that had been dropped on the floor before any of his humans noticed, and thus trampling tomato sauce all over the living room carpet as he scarpered off with it.

Xx

Anne rushed into Alo’s restaurant, and stopped suddenly to collect herself, taking a deep breath and smoothing her hair down. She wanted to appear, cool, calm and collected, the consummate professional as she met her new and rather famous editor for the first time. Not like the harassed and stressed-out mother of two very young children that she was. Who was also very pissed off with her husband for making her late for the first important thing she had done entirely for herself in like forever.

“Hi there……I’m Anne Shirley.......here to meet Mr Garrison” she said more calmly than she felt to the maitre’d.

“Would that be Anne Blythe?” he asked slightly suspiciously.

“Oh yes” Anne blushed “Sorry…...Anne Shirley is my professional name……I’m here to meet my editor…...Blythe is my married name…...I haven’t been married very long……I’m still getting used to it” she rambled, not quite sure why she was giving this stranger her life story as the man’s scowl deepened and he indicated for her to follow him to the table.

“Mr Garrison has been waiting……he is on his second scotch already” the snooty waiter informed her over his shoulder, insinuating that she was rudely late.

“Shit” Anne muttered under her breath, but then brought out her most charming smile as Jack Garrison came into view. She gulped, he was tall dark and handsome, his hair swept back off his face in a fashionable but also old fashioned at the same time, kind of quiff and steely blue eyes. He had a certain mysterious air to him and was dressed in a light coloured three piece suit and white shirt open at the neck. He stood up and gave her a dazzling smile as he saw her approaching the table with the rude waiter, who had gotten his drink order wrong twice already.

“Jack Garrison” he introduced himself as, as he extended his hand to her.

“Anne Shirley…….I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting” she beamed at him, taking his hand and shaking it, feeling slightly star struck, but then tried to reign herself in…….’professional…..professional…..be professional Anne’, her inner voice screamed to her as Jack pulled out her chair for her to sit down in.

She sat down and fiddled with her cutlery, ordering a soda and lime from the waiter, and tried to stop her hands from shaking.

“So, Miss Shirley, I have heard a lot about you……the folks at Tolken House Publishing cannot say enough nice things about you……I have been quiet excited to meet you” he brought his glass of scotch to his lips and eyed her over its rim “…….I think I can see that I was right to do so now”. His eyes swept over her and he smiled charmingly at her as she looked down at the table cloth slightly embarrassed. “I have read all of your works Miss Shirley……I must say I am impressed, although I am a little surprised that you are making such a change in your writing style for this latest project that we will be working on together……but I am excited to see where we can go with it.”

“That’s great…….I’m honoured that you have enjoyed my work Mr Garrison…….”

“Please……call me Jack” he interrupted her, taking another sip of his scotch and placed the glass back down on the table.

“…….ok, then Jack” Anne couldn’t help but smile and raised a perfectly arched red eyebrow at him “…….I must say I have been a huge fan of your work for many years now…..”

“Are you telling me I’m old now Miss Shirley” he joked, giving her a dazzling smile.

“NO…..No!” Anne laughed, “Gosh no”.

He was probably only about 15 years older than her, so just in his mid 40’s. “ I think you need to call me Anne too if I am to call you Jack”. She smiled warmly at him. Her sub conscience silently reprimanding her for not telling him her name was actually Mrs Blythe…….she suddenly realised that she seemed to have conveniently forgotten about the wonderful, caring and intelligent husband she had left at home to look after their two children, shutting the door in his face, without even saying goodbye to him as she was in such a rush to leave. She had started to feel guilty for not correcting Jack when he called her ‘Miss Shirley’. Calling her ‘Anne’ was the best way around it she thought.

The waiter handed her her drink (a soda and cranberry, but she was too nervous to correct him) and she took a sip of it. And as she raised the glass to her lips, she noticed that Jacks eyes fell onto her pearl engagement and wedding ring on her left hand…...but he said nothing.

“You were saying what a fan you were……” he grinned at her, leaning back in his chair “…... not that I need my ego stroking or anything” he laughed, teasing her and she blushed slightly.

“I am……Oh my! Lily’ and Fitzwilliam’s romance almost defined my teenage years and all my romantic ideals of tall, dark, melancholy heroes with inscrutable eyes” she laughed, feeling more relaxed. “So, I am very much looking forward to working with you and hearing your thoughts on my new piece of work, it’s a historical romance……your speciality I know……it’s set around the turn of the century. A tragical love story of sorts……” Anne went on to describe the basic plot line to her idea about her novel. They laughed and chatted as their lunch was served, and by the time coffee was being served Anne, had taken her laptop out and Jack had moved his chair around to her side of the table as they both hovered over her computer. Anne rapidly typing away, taking notes of Jacks suggestions and hints and tips as to which websites and which books he recommended for her to read to give her the best historical accuracy about the period in which she wished to set her story. It was only as their second cup of coffee was being cleared away that she became aware of just how close he had moved his chair next to hers, she could feel his thigh pressed against hers under the table and she subtly crossed her legs away from him, making a space between their bodies. He shifted himself, as if he had only just suddenly become aware of how close he had gotten to his new colleague “Sorry Anne, I didn’t mean to invade your personal space…..I was just getting too excited about the project. I forgot myself, I do apologise” he chuckled picking his chair up and moving back to his side of the table and running his hand through his hair. She immediately thought about Gilbert running his hands through his hair. Jack’s hair wasn’t as nice as Gil’s.

“That’s ok” Anne smiled, slightly worried that she had offended him by moving away, obviously not as subtly as she thought she had. “I think we were both rather absorbed in our work.”

Jack nodded and looked at his watch “I’d better be off now Anne…….how about we meet next week……perhaps for breakfast on the 21st…..is that any good for you?” he asked scrolling through his phone. She took her phone out of her bag and opened it up, her home screen a picture of Gilbert, with both of the children in his arms, grinning at her on the beach on their honeymoon. His hair a mess from the ocean breeze, his tanned skin covered in sand from playing with the children. She quickly swiped it up and away to access her calendar App, she could see that Gilbert had already put on their synchronised schedules that he had a patients surgery booked for that day. She glanced up at Jack who was looking at her expectantly. She had really enjoyed this meeting. As much as she loved her children and would not be without them for the world, she had so enjoyed getting dressed up and having some time doing something that she loved, that was just for her…..Just being a grown up, and being able to finish a sentence and enjoy a nice meal without being interrupted or having to stop Jem from throwing his food all over the floor constantly.

“Yeah, the 21st is great……9am?” she checked, typing the appointment into the calendar, underneath Gilberts surgery date. She was sure she would be able to find someone to baby sit, Di would probably be able to do it.

Xx

It was well past 5pm by the time Anne got home, her feet were aching from wearing her Louboutin’s all day and she was starting to get a headache. She let herself into the apartment knowing that she owed Gilbert an apology after storming off so abruptly earlier on. She closed the door behind her, surprised that the apartment was silent. She sighed as she placed her bag on the floor next to Gilberts work bag. “Hello” she called quietly, wondering if they were out or if the kids were asleep, she made her way down the hall and trod in something soft and gooey that squished underneath the sole of her ridiculously expensive shoe. “Shit” she mumbled as she picked Joys half eaten chicken sandwich up of the floor. She noted that the sandwich had been dragged down the hall and relieved of the chicken that had been in it, most probably by Rusty.

“Gil?” she called out again.

She turned into the kitchen to put her keys in the bowl on the kitchen worktop where they normally lived. “Oh for F’s sake” she said out loud when she saw the state of the kitchen. Jem’s lunch all over the high chair and floor, and a set of red paw prints leading into the sitting room and the sink full of pots and pans. The work tops were covered in flour and little buttery fingerprints were all over the door handles, she noticed there were a dozen cupcakes on a cooling rack by the side of the oven. He had obviously been baking with the kids, but had completely murdered her nice clean kitchen in the process. She walked over to look at the cakes, sugar that had been spilt all over the floor, crunching under her shoes as she did so, she rolled her eyes, it would take her ages to clear all of this mess up. What had happened to the fastidiously tidy Gilbert Blythe that she had met all those years ago.

“Gilber…..!” she called again as she stomped into the living room. His name freezing in her mouth as she saw him sprawled on the sofa fast asleep with the children. He was lying on his back with Jem on his chest and Joy squeezed in between her father’s body and the back of the sofa, all snuggled up into his body sucking her thumb. Anne looked at her watch, it was 5.30 pm, the absolutely worst time for the kids to have a nap, she would never get them to bed on time tonight.

“Gilbert!” she called crossly, marching over to them, she shook his shoulder slightly. He woke up suddenly, looking alarmed. That always happened when he was woken up suddenly, it was hard wired into him now, as it is with most emergency services personnel, after so many years of training and having to suddenly wake up and face an immediate and challenging situation.

“Oh Anne…..hello……you scared me to death” he mumbled, coming down from his adrenalin rush and rubbing his eyes “How did it……” he started to say before he saw the fierce look in Anne’s eyes as she bent down and took Jem off his chest, and reaching over him with her other hand, to stroke Joys cheek to wake her up.

“Time to wake up Joy” she said shooting Gilbert a look as filthy as her kitchen was. “How long have they been asleep Gil…..they will never go to bed on time now” she grumbled as Joy batted her mother’s hand away from her face and snuggled further into Gilberts chest.

“Joy, come on its time to wake up sweetheart” Gilbert said gently, sitting up on the sofa and bringing Joy with him, her little hazel eyes opening at last, her thumb still stuck in her mouth though.

“How did it go?” he asked again, smiling at her.

“The house is a wreck Gil, what the hell have you been up to?” she snapped ignoring his question. “Can I seriously not go out for five frickin minutes without everything falling apart?”

“Huh?” he asked confused. He’d had a great afternoon with the kids and had loved every minute of having the afternoon off with them. Joy crawled off him and went to carry on playing with the dinosaurs that were strewn all over the floor. “I have just been playing with the kids….we’ve had a great afternoon….”

”……. Gil there is food all over the floor…..even down the hallway……did you even see that?”

“Huh?.......no I didn’t” he said going into the hallway to see Joys sandwich, half chewed by the cat and trailed all down the hall.

“I can’t believe you didn’t see that! Are you just waiting for me to come home and clean up after you?”

“What…..no!.....of course not!” he insisted, bending down to clear up the mess “At least you noticed the frickin sandwich in the hall……you seemed to miss noticing your husband standing there earlier on!” he said hotly, matching her tone.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You know full well what I mean!” he said looking her in the eyes, and she blushed “I have rushed around all day, I even got up and went to work earlier so that I could get everything done, so I could get home early for you……..and you didn’t even say or kiss me goodbye” she could see the hurt in his eyes.

“That’s because you were late Gilbert!......you are always late, it’s so disrespectful, you have no regard for anybody else’s time. You expect everything and everyone to fall in around you all the time”.

“Anne, no I do not…..that is not fair and you know it. I’m never late just because I am fannying around at something trivial!”

“Is that comment aimed at me…….is that what you think I spend all day doing…..just ‘fannying around’”. She stormed angrily, taking a step away from him and marching off.

“Anne no, of course not!......you didn’t……..” he said following her out of the room.

“You know what?..... This is the first thing I have done for myself since I discovered that I was pregnant with Joy…….I ask you ONCE to be home for me on time and you cannot even manage that!......just once in three years Gilbert!......do you know how mortifyingly embarrassing it was walking into one of the best restaurants in Toronto, all hot and sweaty after racing there like a complete loon and 30 minutes late?”

“Anne I’m sorry……but I….” he tried to get in.

“I just wanted to go out to lunch, look professional, meet a nice man……do my hair and makeup and…..”

“’A nice man’?” Gilbert echoed, frowning.

Anne shook her head, she had to admit to herself that one of the reasons she was in such a foul mood was because she felt guilty about not making it clear to Jack Garrison that she was a married woman, she let him continue calling her ‘Miss Shirley’. That was her professional name though she told herself, trying to make herself feel better.

She started filling the sink with hot soapy water, her back still turned towards him as a resounding silence filled the kitchen.

“’A nice man?’…….Gilbert said again. She could hear his voice wobble slightly. She turned to see his eyes radiating hurt. His crumpled white t shirt splashed with chocolate cake batter and his hands hanging limply at the side of his denim cut off’s that he had changed into as it was a beautiful day.

“I didn’t mean it like that……I was just looking forward to meeting somebody who shares my passion for writing Gil”.

“Oh, it’s back to ‘Gil’ now, is it?” he said his eyes guarded. He correctly guessed that she was trying to soften him up after making that comment about Jack, and that annoyed her even more. He knew her so well.

His eyes swept over her, from her hair, all the way down her body that looked curvy and stunning in his favourite dress, to the high heeled shoes she was still wearing.

He didn’t say it, but she knew what he was thinking.

“I didn’t get dressed up for another man Gilbert!.......I know what you are thinking!.......I got dressed up for myself!” she insisted, her eyes wide and green., her lips pressed into a straight line.

“I didn’t say that”.

“I know, but you were thinking it”.

He started to back away from her, but Joy was just coming into the kitchen and was standing behind him, he stumbled slightly, not realising she was there. She ran over to her mother and Anne picked her up.

“Mama…..we made you cakes……me do sugar…….Dada let me do sugar” she grinned well pleased with herself. That explained why there was sugar all over the floor. “We made happy cakes……Mama clever….. Dada said”.

Anne felt her heart sink into her silly shoes. Joy pointed to the cakes by the oven, her legs flapping excitedly at Anne’s sides. “We did it for clever Mama” she grinned at her mother and grabbed her and gave her a big wet kiss on her cheek. “Bleh!” Joy said, wiping her mouth after tasting Anne’s blusher on her face.

“You no like cakes?” Joy asked confused, picking up on Anne’s mood.

“Of course I do…….they look delicious…….can I have one after my dinner please?

Joy nodded enthusiastically.

“Thank you darling.” Anne kissed Joy this time. the fight having left her. She turned back to the door to apologise to her husband, but he had left the room. She put Joy down and slipped her shoes off. The sugar now sticking to her bare feet making her smile this time. She walked into the living room to see him on his hands and knees tidying the toys back into the toy box.

“Gil…..I’m sorry” she sighed getting down on her hands and knees next to him and put a triceratops into the toy box.

“I’ll do it……you don’t have too” he said quietly.

“Gil” she put her hand on his arm and he looked at her with sadness in his eyes.

“I mean it I’m sorry……I shouldn’t have snapped at you earlier”.

“I’m sorry the house is a mess…..I was just having a lovely time with the kids Anne…..I meant to tidy up before you got home but I fell asleep reading them a story”. Anne looked over to the sofa where she had found them all asleep, Joys favourite book ‘Room on The Broom’ open on the floor next to it. She smiled to herself, she had seen him reading that book to Joy and Jem a hundred times, he always used different voices for all of the characters, he made the witch sound like her, as she had a ‘long ginger plait’. Joy always used to giggle her head off, Jem just laughing at his sister’s joy and his Daddy’s silliness.

She grabbed hold of him and pulled him over to her. She placed both of her hands on his face and kissed him, pulling his head towards her as she slipped her hands into his hair.

“Not worried about me messing your makeup up now then” he said against her lips.

“Just shut it Blythe” she said and pulled him back into a firmer kiss.

“So it doesn’t matter if your husband gets to see you with messy makeup……but not the ‘nice man’ you just had lunch with.” He teased.

“What part of ‘shut it’ do you not understand?” she whispered breathily to him as she kissed him senseless and pushed him backwards so that she was lying on top of him on the living room floor, kissing him passionately. His hands instinctively went to her backside and he squeezed it. Gilbert suddenly heard Anne go “ouff” as Joy jumped onto her back, doggy piling them, and Jem crawled over to them and pulled himself up and tried to climb atop Joy. The both laughed and held onto one another. Anne softly kissed his nose as he looked up at her. “I’m sorry Gil……I felt awful all afternoon for not kissing you goodbye” she kissed him again longingly. Joy made kissy sucky noises and then giggled.

Anne and Gilbert suddenly froze as they heard the tell-tale retching sound of Rusty being sick on the carpet next to them.

Both of the adults rolled their eyes as they turned their heads to the side to see a pile of cat vomit made up of pasta and tomato sauce on the floor, and Rusty stalking off licking his lips.

“You are SO cleaning that up” Anne laughed and Gilbert sighed resignedly as Anne rolled off him, taking Joy with her.

xx

It was much later that night after cleaning the house and having to read 101 bedtime stories to Joy before she would eventually get to sleep, that Gilbert found himself locked in his own bathroom, googling Jack Garrison.

“Shit” he muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair as he took in the images Google provided of the tall and handsome man who was Jack Garrison. Most of the photos were red carpet images of the famous author attending premieres of big screen adaptations of his novels. Gilberts heart constricted as he saw photos of him with the likes of Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Watson and Colin Firth and a particularly worrying one of him gazing at Karen Gillan, his arm draped around her, and hand in her long red hair at the premiere of one of the Marvel films that the actress had starred in. Gilbert clicked on the image and read the story that was linked to the image. It was an interview from a few years ago when the couple had been dating. Gilbert scanned the article, his eyes flicking back and forth,

“You have to be fucking kidding me!” Gilbert swore under his breath as he read the sentence that quoted Jack saying that he had a thing for ‘Titian beauties’ and it was her beautiful red hair that had initially caught his eye when he had first met Karen.

“Please still be together……please still be together” he muttered as he googled ‘ Jack Garrison and Kar……” he only got as far as that, before Google started auto filling in the ‘….en Gillan split’ .

“Shit” he muttered again. Scanning the article from last year, that said the couple had split up and rumours where that Mr Garrison had been unfaithful and Ms Gillan had ended their relationship. ‘But the couple had announced that they remained friends’.

“Yeah right!” Gilbert scoffed sarcastically, louder than he intended to.

“Gil……are you ok in there?” Anne asked, knocking loudly on the door and trying the handle, making him jump and nearly drop his phone.

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a moment”.

“You sure you are ok……why have you locked the door?”

“Er I feel a bit nauseous” That was partly true, the more he read about this Jack Garrison fellow, the more his stomach was churning with anxiety.

“I need the loo”.

“Oh ok sorry…….hang on” he flushed the chain even though he hadn’t used the toilet and unlocked the door.

Anne was waiting on the other side of the bathroom door all ready for bed, her brow furrowed slightly.

She was confused why he had locked the door. They never locked the door. She heard the toilet flush and then the door opened immediately. ‘That was odd’ she thought. Being a doctor, and having nearly died from Typhoid, Gilbert was almost OCD level about washing his hands after using the toilet. But he had flushed and opened the door immediately, not washing his hands. She looked at his dry hands as he opened the door and he was just slipping his phone back into his shorts pocket and had a guilty look on his face.

Very odd.

“You sure you are ok?” she asked in a tight voice.

“Yeah, it has passed over now” he lied wondering what the hell was the matter with him, and why he felt it necessary to lie to his wife. He knew the answer to his own internal question. He had never doubted Anne’s loyalty, even when she was going out with Roy. She was loyal to a fault. He knew that she was not a cheater and would never do that to him, but this Jack Garrison gave him a bad vibe……granted he had never met the guy, and the only information he had on him was what he read online. But he just did not like the bloke. He shook his head at himself as he put his phone on to charge, took his socks off and climbed into bed…...he was being ridiculous, he knew that. But that did not stop a small prickle of fear spike his heart as he lay on his back in their bed looking up at the ceiling.

He trusted Anne.

But he did not trust Jack Fucking Garrison.

He was completely exhausted after getting up early to go to work and then looking after the kids all afternoon, so by the time Anne had finished in the bathroom he was fast asleep in bed already. Anne stood at the side of the bed and slipped her robe off and climbed into bed with him, she snuggled up next to him and put her cold feet on his warm legs. He turned and threw his arm around her waist and let out a soft sigh in his sleep.

“He’s cheating……” he mumbled in his sleep.

Anne froze in his arms.

Since they had been together, the sleep talking had all but ceased. He seemed to do it mostly when something was troubling him emotionally.

“In the bathroom……cheating in the bathroom” he muttered again, his arm moved off her waist and he turned over and put his back to her.

Anne sat up in bed and looked at his sleeping form in the darkness of their bedroom.

‘Cheating’?

‘Cheating in the bathroom’?

Anne’s heart pounded as a clear memory flashed into her mind. She grabbed her phone and turned it on, the brightness of the screen briefly illuminating the dark room until she quickly dimmed the screens light. She scrolled through hers and Gilberts message thread, remembering exactly when it was. But she needed to check it anyway. Eventually after a few minutes she found what she was looking for.

[Gilbert]: I’d better go.

[Anne]: not hiding in the broom cupboard again, are we?

[Gilbert]: Not quite……. the bathroom this time.

She remembered the night when they had exchanged those text messages. It had been the night that she had first found out that he had a girlfriend and had then bumped into him and Christine whilst she and Roy were out at the same restaurant. She remembered how jealous she had felt, watching her now husband hold another woman’s hand over the table and gaze into her eyes. He had later told her that he had locked himself in Christine’s bathroom so that he could text her in private, without Christine seeing what he was doing.

Anne turned her phone off and put it back beside her bed. She looked over to Gilberts nightstand and saw his phone there next to him on charge. What the hell had he been doing on that phone in there that he didn’t want her to see?

The obvious answer flew into her mind.

Was he texting somebody? Was he texting another woman?.

Anne’s stomach rolled and tears pricked the back of her eyes. She briefly contemplated taking his phone and checking to see what he had been doing on it. Looking at who he had been texting. She quickly flopped back down into bed and pulled the covers up to her nose and stared at the ceiling. She was horrified that she had even contemplated invading his privacy in such a fashion. That’s what had ultimately led to his break up with Christine, she thought to herself. She suddenly realised that that was the second time in less than five minutes that Gilberts ex’s name had invaded her brain.

She turned on her side and looked at her husband again. She trusted him more than anybody on this planet, he would never hurt her. Would he? She had been a complete bitch to him today. Had he sort comfort from his ex-girlfriend, whilst she was out being wined and dined by Jack Garrison? And then came home and had a go at him for basically being an excellent father. She groaned to herself and put her hand on her forehead and rubbed it, trying to sooth her worries away. She did what she always did when she needed some kind of physical comfort, she turned over towards him and pressed her body as close to his as she could, spooning him from behind, her face pressed sideways into his bare back so she could get as close to him as possible. She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his and breathed in his Gilberty scent, which instantly calmed her anxieties. She smiled into his back as his arms snaked around hers and he pulled her in even closer in his sleep. She remembered the night that he had broken up with Christine Catty Stuart……how he had brazenly ordered her into his bed, refusing to go without her, and how she had spooned him from behind that night. She couldn’t help but laugh softly to herself at the memory. There were a lot less clothes involved tonight than there had been on that particular night all of those years ago.

“What’s got you all giggly?” he suddenly sighed in a sleepy voice.

She laughed softly again “Nothing……just a happy memory of you my love” she kissed his naked back ever so lightly and she felt him stir even more. “I love you Gil” she whispered tenderly, feeling vulnerable. ‘It never does to take each other for granted’ Rachel Lynde’s voice said to her in her head.

He turned in her arms and she looked up at his sleepy face, his eyes only half open, his hair a complete mess and he kissed her lips lovingly. “I love you too my Anne” he whispered back throatily as he drifted back off to sleep in her arms.

She loved that she was the only one who got to see him like this, all sleepy and cute, and like a scruffy little puppy. ‘Fuck you, Christine Stuart. He’s all mine! Get out of my head bitch!’ she thought to herself as she cuddled up to her husband and fell fast asleep.

Chapter Text

“Gil……I have another work meeting booked on the 21st at 9am…..I forgot that Di and Fred are back in PEI that week……Is there any chance you can go into work later that day?” she asked over breakfast a few days later.

Gilbert pulled his phone out of his pocket and started scrolling through it to check his schedule for that date and time.

Anne chewed her lip, she already knew that he had surgery booked for that day, but hoped that it could be rescheduled or was later in the day. She knew how difficult it was for him to have time off work. Appointments and surgeries were always booked weeks or months in advance, and he hated having to cancel or change his patients’ appointments. Patients always wanted a face-to-face consultation with him, rather than one of the other doctors on his team, as he was just so good at what he did. He already had the reputation of being the best obstetrician In Toronto.

He frowned slightly at his screen, and pressed his lips together as he looked back up at her. “I’m sorry Carrots, I have some important surgery that day……I really can’t change it I’m afraid……are you able to delay your meeting until Di is back”. he shovelled more cereal into his mouth as he stood up and put his suit jacket on that was on the back of his chair.

Anne picked her own bowl up and turned her back on him as she placed the bowl into the sink and started to wash it up, rolling her eyes in annoyance at him. “I guess” she said sulkily.

He came up behind her and kissed her neck softly and put his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

“I really am sorry Anne……but this is a really important surgery for this particular patient and she has requested that only I do it…….I don’t want to let her down”.

“But it’s ok to let me down though” she said rather petulantly.

He turned her around, not bothering that she was dripping water all over his shoes and the clean floor. “it’s not as simple as that and you know it”. His eyes twinkled at her and he smiled softly. “This particular patient has been trying to have a child for a few years now, she’s had a miscarriage and we think that one if not both of her fallopian tubes are blocked following and infection associated with the miscarriage. The surgery will help her conceive Anne……..The patient is already in her early 30’s…..so time is of the essence…..I really don’t want to have to delay it any longer than necessary”.

Anne sighed and held his face with both of her wet hands, leaving him with two foamy mutton chops on his cheeks and kissed him softly, she could remember how it felt to believe you would never have you own child, and she would never wish that on her worst enemy. She looked up at him and smiled “Of course Gil……I’ll change the appointment….”

“Anne I really think that we need to get some help with the kids……I don’t want you to start resenting me and the kids for you not being able to follow your own dreams……you are the most amazing mother……but sometimes it’s good for a child’s resilience to go to day care or to childcare……you know that right?” he kissed her neck and she sighed, enjoying his attentions on her. “And if we have any more……I don’t want you getting completely overwhelmed and not able to enjoy being a mother”. He kissed her deeply and pressed her up against the sink, she couldn’t help but melt into him.

“Hmmm” was all she could say as his lips lazily traced their way down the slender column of her neck before he softly sucked the point where her neck curved into her shoulder, and then released her skin with a wet pop.

“Let’s look into it at least, maybe interview a few Childminders or Nannies and see how you feel…..if we don’t feel as though any of them are the right fit, then we will have to think of another solution” he said eventually pulling away from her and she chased after his lips. “I think that is the least we can do, ok?”

“Hmmm ok” she agreed, and pulled him in for another kiss.

“I’ve got to go Carrots” he pulled away and kissed the end of her nose “Love you”.

“Ok……love you too” she sighed and he wiped his wet cheeks on her shoulder, making her laugh and she grabbed his tie as he tried to pull away.

“You maybe wanna practise trying for number 3 tonight?” she whispered, completely caught up in her husband’s eyes, her skin still tingling from where he had softly sucked on her neck. Completely forgetting any childcare issues they had with the two children they already had.

“God yeah” He breathed and leaned in to kiss her passionately again.

“You are thinking about it already aren’t you Dr Blythe” she glanced down at his pelvis and smiled smugly.

“God yeah” was all he said again.

“Good……I want you to think about it…….all…….day…..long” each word punctuated by a soft kiss, and her fingers twirling in her favourite curl. Her hands drifted down from his hair around his ears and along the angular cut of his jaw, as he tried to angle her head to kiss her deeper. She lightly stroked the soft skin just behind his ear with her finger tips, as she knew it drove him mad when she did that. He groaned against her lips.

“Fucking hell……” he practically growled at her, pressing her hard against the sink again “……. you are a very bad Carrot……you are going to make me late”. He started to undo his belt, unable to wait any longer for her. The kids were still in bed and it was not out of the ordinary for them to have a quickie every now and again when the opportunity came up.

“Nah ah ah” she laughed, wagging her finger at him. “I mean it……I want you to think about what you are going to do to me all day long”. She whispered to him and caressed his neck again as she looked up into his eyes through her lashes, they were practically black, his pupils so dilated that there was hardly any hazel iris visible.

He narrowed his eyes at her and smirked a cheeky smirk as he stepped back from her and tried to straighten himself up. “Ok then Carrots…..have it your way……” he said lightly, his tone the signature Gilbert Blythe teasing speciality blend that he had now perfected “……because tonight I will be having my wicked way…….and I can assure you, it will be a very wicked way indeed!” He winked at her, but as he turned and bent over and pick his bag up of the floor, she playfully slapped his arse and then gave it a squeeze.

“I would not expect anything different Blythe……I will be waiting……” she singsong’d and then grabbed her robe and opened it up, flashing him as she was completely naked underneath it. He turned red and left the apartment whimpering under his breath, almost totally undone and not knowing how the hell he was going to get through his day.

XX

Three weeks later Anne opened the apartment door to see a young fresh faced young lady, standing on the other side. She was 24 and about the same height as Anne and was very pretty with a curvy figure, long dark hair that shone like silk, that she wore up in a practical high pony tail and deep blue eyes. Her cheeks were slightly red and she had an enthusiastic smile on her face.

Anne returned her smile with a radiant one of her own and extended her hand to her “Morning, you must be Suzie right?”

“Yes Suzie Baker” the young lady said, taking Anne’s hand and shaking it.

“Please come in” Anne opened the door wider to admit her, and Suzie took her shoes off straight away as soon as she entered the apartment.

‘Tick’ Anne though, smiling to herself.

“It’s lovely to meet you Mrs Blythe…...I have my resume and references here with me”. She handed Anne a folio document holder.

“Lovely……can I get you a drink? A tea or a coffee maybe?”

“Oh, just a water would be lovely please……I never have hot drinks around the children”.

‘Tick’.

“Ok, come through to the kitchen and meet the children whilst I fix that for you” Anne said indicating for her to follow her.

Gilbert was sitting at the kitchen table with the children, Jem strapped into his high chair and Joy busy colouring in.

“This is my husband, Gilbert……” she gestured over to him and watched the young ladies face, closely, gaging her reaction. Suzie’s eyes flitted over to him briefly, but as she extended her hand to him to shake his offered hand, her eyes did not linger on him, but instead went straight to the children sitting at the table.

‘Tick’

The previous two candidates had spent the whole interview just staring at Gilbert, and had barely noticed the children in the room which they were supposed to be having a job interview to look after.

“……..and this is Joy, she is nearly two” she gestured to her disinterested daughter “……and this is Jem who is nearly one” Anne said proudly. Jem grinned at Suzie, but then again, he grinned at everyone, even at the drama student dressed up as the ‘IT’ clown that they had encountered in the mall the other day as it was nearly Halloween.
Suzie beamed back at baby Jem and immediately bent down to engage with him, tucking a shiny dark strand of hair behind her ear as she did so. She played with Jem for a few moments whilst Anne poured them all a glass of water.

‘Tick’

She then turned to Joy “I love your picture Joy……Is that a cow?”

Joy ignored her.

“Joy, Suzie is talking to you” Gilbert prompted his daughter.

Suzie smiled “That’s ok, I don’t always expect young children to respond to me immediately, sometimes it takes time for us to build a bond, for her to feel comfortable enough with me to engage with me. I like to spend time with the families that I work with, really getting to know what their child’s likes and dislikes are, what makes them tick and I find that then the bond evolves very naturally, and children always feel like they can trust me and that I am a safe person for them……”.

‘Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick’

“……You only get out of children what you put in, and I always put 100 percent into the children in my care, as I find that is what makes the job the most rewarding for me personally and for the children themselves”.

Gilbert Looked over at the soft expression on his wife’s face ‘Ding, ding ding, ding…..we have a winner!’ he thought to himself, knowing already that Anne had fallen in love with Suzie.

Chapter Text

“You’ll never guess what Jack said about my new chapter Gil?......He said it was the best Victorian retelling of a modern love story that he had ever read!” She thrilled without even giving him a chance to answer her question.

“Oh, that’s great Carrots” he said, his phone glued to one ear and his finger stuck in his other ear as he strained to hear what she was saying.

“We went to the best restaurant as well…….It’s this new little Italian in Old Town. He seems to be intent on only taking me to the best places for our meetings, I think he is just making the most of company expenses” she laughed.

Gilbert took a left down the hospital corridor to try and get away from the noise of the building work that was going on next door to the maternity wing. What with that and the accompanying symphony of crying babies and wailing mothers that he was subject to everyday, his headaches seemed to be getting worse.

“That sounds infinitely better than what I had for lunch” he joked, knowing that he hadn’t had any lunch yet and was starving, that was probably why he had a headache. She went on to describe what she had had, adding in comments about how her and Jack had laughed together when a fan had approached them and had asked for his autograph, but had thought he was Ryan Reynolds. Jack had just signed ‘To Martin, best wishes Ryan’ on the guy’s Marvel comic that he had on him, and he went away a very happy man.

She went on at length about what a nice guy Jack was to not correct the mistaken fan, but just wanted to make the guys day. Apparently, according to Anne, it was very ‘refreshing’ to meet somebody who had next to no ego……what was that even supposed to mean? He wondered whilst she continued with her happy chatter and he wandered along the hospital corridor, not really paying attention to where he was going, just trying to find somewhere quiet to talk to his wife.

“Just a reminder Gil, I’m going out with the girls and Cole tonight……so I won’t be in when you get back. Suzie says she’s good to have the kids for as long as we need, so let her know if you are going to be late home. She says she’s happy to put the them to bed”.

Cole had come up from Avonlea for a long weekend as some of his work was being shown in a Toronto art exhibition. He was staying at a local hotel, but he had spent nearly all of his waking hours at the Blythe’s apartment. Anne had loved having him around for a few days and he was always great company. Even Joy loved him, but that may have been something to do with the world’s largest and pinkest art set that Uncle Cole had brought with him for the little girl as he had missed her 2nd birthday a few weeks ago.

“Ok have a great time…….be careful, not too wild though Mrs Blythe……not in your condition!”

“I will be careful, don’t worry doctor” she laughed “I think I might tell them all tonight”.

“Oh…..Jose is going tonight isn’t she?” Gilbert prompted her.

He was still treating Josie and Charlie for infertility. In fact, it had been Josie who had been the patient with the important operation that he had not wanted to cancel a few months ago. Josie’s operation had been a success, and he had managed to unblock her fallopian tubes, and he suspected that this would be her first night out following her recovery. He was due to start a cycle of treatment with the Sloane’s next week. He knew how sensitive Josie was about other people’s pregnancies, as whilst she was always genuinely thrilled for them and their happy news, it was always a stark and painful reminder of what was missing from her own life. Josie had wept on Gilberts shoulder on more than one occasion during their consultations, about the injustice of how some people managed to get pregnant so easily, but it was so hard for her and Charlie. Anne knew from Josie herself some of what she had gone through, but not all of it, and of course Gilbert hadn’t said anything to Anne because of doctor/ patient confidentiality.

Anne picked up on what Gilbert was telling her without him having to actually say it. Their happy news that Anne was expecting their third child would definitely ruin the night out for Josie, and Anne would not want to do that to her. She could wait to tell her friends about her pregnancy.

“Yeah, she’s going……I’ll delay telling them, I don’t want to upset her. Only Cole knows about the baby, and he knows not to say anything. I’ve already offered to drive, and that will be an excuse not to drink”.

“Ok, well have a lovely time…..I’ll probably get something to eat here before I head home then”.

“Ok, love you, See you later”.

“Ok Bye. Love you too Carrots”. He said and hung up.

Gilbert was just slipping his phone back into his pocket, his eyes downcast looking at the inside pocket of his suit jacket when he bumped into somebody coming around the corner.

“Gosh Sorry…..” he spluttered, before he looked up and saw whom he had bumped into.

“Blythe?” the jovial voice said, as their eyes met and a smile stretched across Gilberts face.

“Stuart!” Gilbert replied as the man embraced him and clapped him on the back.

“Well actually it’s Dr Blythe now” Gilbert grinned.

“And it’s Dr Stuart here too” Ron laughed “look at us all grown up” he straightened the collar of his jacket like a Victorian gentleman.

“How long has it been?” Gilbert asked, happy to see his old friend Ron Stuart, but feeling rather uncomfortable, knowing that there was a rather large elephant in the room. That being Ron’s younger sister Christine, who Gilbert had been shagging for two years whilst unbeknownst to Gilbert, she was engaged to another man. Gilbert cleared his throat and hoped he wasn’t blushing as much as he thought he was.

Ron chuckled at his old friend’s discomfort.

“I reckon about six or seven years mate……it was just before you started sleeping with my little sister, I seem to remember”.

Gilbert covered his face with his hands and shook his head groaning. Ron took pity on his kind hearted friend and laughed and slapped him on the back as they began to wander down the corridor together.

“Shit” Gilbert said, dragging his hands down his face, bringing his lower eyelids with them. “I’m so embarrassed”.

“What?......no need for you to feel embarrassed man…..that was all Christine’s fault not yours. She’s always been a deceitful little bugger; thinks she can get away with murder just because she looks such a angel”.

“Even so, I can’t believe that I was stupid enough to fall for all of her lies” Gilbert shook his head again and opened his eyes wide and shrugged. “The clues were there; I just was too much of an idiot to see them”.

“Arh……just a fool in love” Ron said, putting his arm around Gilberts shoulder playfully and squeezing it. Gilbert blushed again. He had been a fool in love alright when he was dating Christine. Only he had been in love with another woman…… and that was Anne. He thought it best not to draw Ron’s attention to that.

“How long have you been back in Toronto?” Gilbert asked, keen to change the subject away from Christine.

“Just this week actually……I was about to come and look you up. I was just on my way to the maternity wing now in fact……I had heard you had gone into obstetrics and were the main man there”.

“Oh, hardly the main man” Gilbert laughed shaking his head, self-deprecatingly.

“You are as modest as ever I see……and I hear you are married now…….I hope you realise you have broken every nurses heart in this place” he laughed.

“Yep……happily married” he lifted his left hand up and showed Ron his wedding ring as if to prove the fact.

Ron raised an eyebrow “And to Anne, I hear” he smirked.

“Yep, Anne…….” He was about to add that it was ‘always Anne’, but then thought better of it.

“Ouch!” Ron winced theatrically. “Christine used to bitch to hell about Anne……Still, she got what she deserved in the end”.

Gilbert gulped, they seemed to be back on the subject of Christine, even though he had tried to steer the conversation away from her.

“Oh?” Gilbert feigned minimal interest so as to not offend her brother.

“Yeah, she married Andrew about 6 months after she spilt from you. And then just over two years ago Andrew up and left her, he’d met a met somebody else at work…..he’s married to her now and they have a baby……Christine never wanted children”.

“Ouch” Gilbert grimaced. “Er how is she?” he inquired out of politeness.

“You know what? I think she’s a better person for it all…….she has always been somewhat entitled and spoilt……but I think losing you and then Andrew has changed her.”

Gilbert felt like he needed to explain, he had never had a conversation with Ron about Christine, everything that had happened, happened whilst he was away in Vancouver.

“Look…..Ron…..I had absolutely no idea about Andrew when I was with Christine……you know me……I would never have had a relationship with anybody that was even dating somebody else….. let alone engaged.” Gilbert blushed again and ran his hands through his hair, feeling mortified.

“Look don’t worry Blythe, the whole family had no idea she was in a relationship with you, we all thought she was happy with Andrew. If I had any idea that she was going to be unfaithful, I wouldn’t have asked you to show her around. It was me that initiated your friendship with her……I wasn’t blind, I knew you were mad for Anne and I thought you two would get on as friends……I guess I was right……a bit too right in fact” he laughed, patting Gilberts shoulder again. He looked at his phone “I’m going to Alo’s for dinner tonight, why don’t you join me……I actually booked the table for Chrissy and I, but she’s chasing off with some other scheme or plan or another, whatever it is that she does all day, and has dumped me…….you are welcome to join me to catch up properly……it’ll be on me, I think I owe you one for unleashing my sister on you” he chuckled.

“Er yeah…….that would be great actually, Anne’s out tonight and the kids are being looked after, although I don’t want to be out too late…… I don’t want to leave the childminder with the kids for too long”.

“Great…..I’ll see you there at seven”.

[Dr Gilbert Blythe]: Hi Suzie, I’m meeting an old friend for dinner at Alo’s tonight. Table booked for 7pm so hopefully I’ll be back before 10. Is that ok? I can always cancel if not.

[Suzie Baker]: That’s fine Dr Blythe, enjoy your evening.

[Dr Gilbert Blythe]: Thanks Suzie. How are the kids?

[Suzie Baker]: All good. We’ve been painting today. I am just about to bath them both, and then I will read them a story before bedtime. (Picture attached).

Gilbert smiled at the picture of Jem and Joy painting; Joys little tongue stuck out in concentration. As he wandered back to the chaos of the maternity wing another picture pinged through from Suzie, of Joy holding up her picture of a load of random blobs and splashes of paint on her piece of paper, with a big grin on her face. A text followed immediately after it.

[Suzie Baker] The picture is of you.

Gilbert laughed out loud, he stopped still where he was and considered cancelling his plans with Ron and just going home to be with the kids. He fiddled with his phone whilst he dithered about what to do. His stomach rumbled and made his decision for him. Alo’s fine dining v’s a tin of tomato soup at home or a hospital canteen meal.

Alo’s it was.

He was just putting his phone away in his pocket when he remembered what Ron had just said to him, his words suddenly registering with him and making him freeze on the spot.

‘I actually booked the table for Chrissy and I, but she’s chasing off with some other scheme or plan or another, whatever it is that she does all day……’.

Shit!

That meant Christine was living in Toronto, “Fuck” he muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes to himself and ran his hand through his hair. He had spent the best part of the last three years trying to avoid her. He remembered just before he had gone to Antigua with the gang for the first time, she had been trying to call him and text him constantly. She had even written to him at work, and had then rung his secretary, and had tried to make an appointment to see him. Fortunately, after the letter had arrived on his desk (which he didn’t open), he had had the gumption to warn Alison, who was in charge of making his appointments and she had black listed her, making it impossible for her to make any kind of appointment with Dr Blythe.

Again, he considered cancelling his plans. He shook his head. He was being ridiculous. He wasn’t going to let Christine Stuart rule his life for heaven’s sake. That was all years ago, and he was a married man now.

Nothing would ever come between him and Anne now.

Right?

Chapter Text

”So how is the lovely Anne?” Ron asked as he passed the menu back to the waitress and took a sip of his drink.

“She’s amazing…….thank you……” Gilbert said to the waitress, handing his menu back after ordering his meal. His stomach growling again. “We’ve been married since June and we have two children together……and a third on the way”.

Gilbert chuckled as Ron spluttered on his drink “Bloody hell man! It takes you over a decade to get together but once you are, there is no stopping you……three kids already?”

Gilbert laughed, he was glad that he hadn’t cancelled their last minute dinner plans, it was good to catch up with him. He got his phone out and was showing Ron pictures of Joy and Jem, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Gilbert?”

He froze, mid-sentence, his finger hovering over his phone, where he was swiping through the photographs. Every one of his senses was suddenly on fire. He could smell the familiar, but long forgotten scent of her perfume, from where she stood behind him. It instantly made his headache worsen, and his stomach roll with an unpleasant feeling of shock and nerves.

“Christine?” Ron said surprised to see her. His eyes flicked to Gilbert’s white face; his friend’s eyes closed as if he were enduring his worst nightmare.

She moved around the side of the table so that she could see her ex boyfriends face. his eyes suddenly opened and he looked up at her.

Her heart hammered as they looked at each other for the first time since she had walked out of his apartment all of those years ago, on the day that they had broken up.

He was even more handsome than he had been back then, his hair still luscious with shiny curls on top and short at the back, his cheek bones and chin cut to perfection, and his eyes……oh my God……his eyes……as soon as they made contact with hers……she remembered just how beautiful they were.

They reminded her of the first time she had ever met him on the train station platform in Kingsport. Her brother had told her that his friend ‘Gilbert Blythe’ was coming to pick her up and was going to drive her to her university lodgings. ‘Gilbert Blythe?’ she had thought to herself. What kind of geeky name was that? He sounded like he was about 90 years old. She had rolled her blue eyes at Ron, thinking he had sent a chubby nerd. with greasy hair and acne to collect her. She had stood on the platform irritated, tapping her toe as ‘Gilbert Blythe’ was late! Ron had warned her about that though, and it was just as she was bending over to pick her case up to go and find herself a cab, when quite possibly the most handsome man she had ever seen suddenly appeared in front of her and reached out to help her with her luggage. His chocolate coloured curls all in disarray as he had obviously been rushing around to get to the train station, and the most beautiful pair of earnest hazel eyes she had ever seen. Christine Stuart knew a handsome man when she saw one. She had had a few little love affairs in her time, and she knew that she held a certain kind of allure over the opposite sex. She had never met a man quite like this before, she almost felt herself swoon, her breath even hitched in surprise. This was ‘Gilbert Blythe’? She may have been an engaged woman, but as soon as he had turned those eyes towards her and had given her a dazzling and apologetic smile, she knew that she wanted him and she was going to have him. She would do her upmost to get him into her bed.

But it had turned into so much more than just that. She knew by the time that he had dropped her off at her university lodgings that she was falling in love with him, that she was struck. She didn’t understand what he had done to her, she usually had the guys running around in circles after her. But ten minutes in the car with ‘Gilbert Blythe’, a little small talk, a smile and the twinkle of those beautiful eyes was all it took and she had fallen.

But now those beautiful hazel eyes were guarded as they looked up at her. She knew that look well enough. It was the exact same look that he had given her the day that he had found out about Andrew and they had broken up, as he had told her that it ‘Didn’t matter who it was that he loved, all that mattered here and now was that it was not her’ and had completely broken her heart. She knew he had tried to tell her that kindly, but none the less, those words had nearly killed her as he had said them to her.

His jaw tensed and he slipped his phone back into his pocket, Christine noticed the lock screen photo and it was of him and Anne on their wedding day, each holding a child in their arms and grinning at each other lovingly. She had heard that they had had a kid and were getting married. Of course, she always knew that that would happen one day or another.

She had never felt any kind of sexual jealousy before, she had always had her own way with every guy she had ever met, all she had to do was click her fingers and they were all hers. But she had been so jealous of Anne throughout hers and Gilberts entire relationship. Yes, he had told her all about his female ‘best friend’ before their relationship had turned into anything romantic, but she hadn’t been prepared for the full ferocity of the feeling of absolute possessive jealousy that swarmed throughout her entire body when she saw how her boyfriend always looked at Anne Shirley. Their chemistry was palpable, their connection undeniable. And she had hated it.

She had hated Her.

“Gil” was all she could say, and he looked away sharply at Ron. He hadn’t liked it when she called him that even when they were dating, much less now. Only Anne called him that.

“What are you doing here Chrissy? You cancelled our plans tonight, so I invited Gilbert along”. Ron smiled apologetically at Gilbert, who was looking increasingly uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure if Ron was aware that his sister had been effectively stalking him on and off for the last three years.

“I texted you about 10 minutes ago to say that I could make it after all” Christine mumbled, still staring at Gilbert.

“Look…..I better be going……you two have your meal…..I’ll set it straight with the waitress on the way out…..” Gilbert rambled starting to get up.

She reached out and put a gentle hand on his forearm “Please Gilbert…..I want to apologise to you…..I treated you dreadfully all of those years ago…….please, let me put things right” tears welled up in her eyes as he looked at her again. “Please stay, if only for a few minutes…..”.

A waiter appeared at the table; his eyebrow arched. “Will this lady be joining you sir?” he asked Gilbert.

“Please” Christine begged again, a tear now rolling down her cheek.

He felt his anger abating and his resolve waning, and the ever polite Gilbert Blythe did not want to cause a scene in one of Toronto’s best restaurants. “I guess so, just for a few minutes” he said sitting back down again and the waiter pulled another chair over to the table for her to sit between her brother and her ex-boyfriend.

She reached across the table and lightly took hold of his hand. He immediately withdrew his and placed them on his thighs under the table, and looked away from her.

“Chris……” Ron started, but Christine shushed her brother.

“Gilbert…..just give me a couple of minutes to explain…….please” she urged again.

He looked at her, his mouth in a tight line.

“I’m sure that Ron has told you now that Andrew and I have split up, we have been divorced for two years now…….we had been together for 16 years, we were childhood sweethearts……But I took him for granted Gilbert……and now I have lost both my husband and my best friend” She swallowed thickly and quickly swiped a tear away. “I’m sure you can understand that?”

He smiled painfully. That he could understand. After his falling out with Anne following their first holiday in Antigua, his world had fallen apart at the loss of the love of his life and his best friend. He looked at her warily. “I’m sorry to hear that Christine……but that does not excuse you for the way that you behaved back then and for practically stalking me for the last couple of years”.

Ron frowned. He was obviously unaware that his sister had been trying to contact Gilbert.

“I was only trying to contact you to apologise……to take responsibility for my own actions. When we split……after you found out about Andrew…….I blamed you, and I blamed Anne…….and I shouldn’t have done that. Our relationship ended because of my actions, my actions alone and it was wrong of me to try and shift that blame onto you”.

Gilbert looked down at the table cloth and fiddled with his wedding ring.

“Since Andrew left me, I have changed a lot Gilbert. I’ve had the time for some self-reflection and I have spoken to a therapist, it was her idea in fact that I should try and contact you, to own my mistakes in our relationship. That’s why I have been calling and trying to contact you…...I’m sorry if my doing so has caused you to feel uncomfortable and threatened in any way.…..” She put her hand on her heart “But I assure you that that was not my intention”.

She could see that his shoulders relaxed, and the frown on his forehead had softened away.

“Will you accept my apology……I am deeply ashamed of the way that I acted. I should never have lied to you and Andrew…….I want you to know that I did love you back then. That I never lied about that, and when I said those words to you Gilbert…… I meant them”. Tears were now flooding down her face and Ron reached out and squeezed his sister’s hand, as she tried to covertly wipe them away. She looked up at him with her deep blue eyes, her long dark lashes sticking together in little clumps. “Please say you forgive me Gil?”

He sighed as he remembered one of Diana’s mantra’s, which was a quote from Nelson Mandela ‘being unable to forgive is like drinking poison and expecting your enemy to die’. Who was he to argue with such a legend? Holding onto such bitterness would do neither of their mental health any good. Partly against his better judgement he smiled at Christine and nodded. “I forgive you Christine” he all but whispered. She immediately sobbed loudly and made people around them on the tables next to them look around to see what was going on. Christine looked at him as if he had hung the moon and the stars, her eyes glittering with relief and happiness as she bit her lower lip with her teeth, to stop herself from sobbing with joy again.

“Thank you” she wept and Gilbert couldn’t help himself from taking her hand across the table and giving it a quick squeeze before letting go again. “Can we be friends now?” she gulped and once again against his better judgement, he nodded.

He stayed for his starter and main course that he had ordered, just because he was so hungry, but then quickly excused himself away, saying he needed to get back home to relieve the babysitter. When Christine asked if she could text him some time, he reluctantly agreed, not wanting to offend her.

Xx

Gilbert had spent the whole of his journey home with Christine Stuart on his mind……his head was scrambled with all of the information he had taken in on this seemingly normal Friday evening, from the moment he had bumped into Ron in the corridor. He wasn’t confident that the decisions he had made were the right ones. Should he have forgiven Christine so easily? Should he have agreed to be her friend again? Not many of his friends or people that he knew had remained friends with their ex’s. Yes, it was possible……but was it ultimately worth it? It normally only led to trouble. What the hell would Anne think when she got home and he told her he was now friends with Christine ‘Catty’ Stuart again? Would she be upset? He rolled his eyes at himself and ran his hand through his hair anxiously. He didn’t need this. The last thing he wanted was to upset Anne, especially when she was pregnant……he was already stressed to the hilt about her health and blood pressure as it was whenever she was pregnant. He really didn’t want to do anything that would stress her out.

His anxiety only multiplied tenfold when he pulled into the car park and saw Anne’s car already parked in her allotted space. It was only 9.45, he expected her to be out much later than this. He pulled his phone out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket to see if she had texted him. He checked and noticed that he had left it on silent, since his clinic that afternoon.

[Anne]: 4 missed calls

[Cole] 11 Missed calls

4 new voicemails

[Cole]: Gilbert, call me as soon as you get this message.

“Fuck!”

Chapter Text

“Fuck” he uttered, his heart hammering as he ran towards his building and practically pulled the door of its hinges as he raced down the hall to his apartment, his hands shaking as he fumbled with his key to get in through his front door. Fortunately, Cole must have heard him and quickly pulled the door open for him.

“Shit Gilbert where the hell have you been……. we’ve all been trying to……”

“Where’s Anne, is she ok?......the kids?” he interrupted panicking, all of the colour drained from his face.

“She’s in bed, she’s ok…..but she’s had some bleeding”.

Gilbert barged past Cole, his heart in his boots……he tried to put his doctor head on instead of his loving husband and father head, that currently was in a total spin, and was proving to be no use at all. Cole caught hold of his arm just as he put his hand on the bedroom door handle.

“Take a breath Gilbert…..” he said calmly, his blue eyes connecting with Gilberts stricken hazel ones “She’s panicking enough on her own…..she needs you to be calm and reassuring……ok?”

“Ok” Gilbert breathed, and took another steadying breath before opening the door to see his wife curled up in their bed in the foetal position, hugging his pillow to her chest. “Gil……” she cried softly and held her arms out too him.

“Anne…….” He moved quickly across the room in two strides and then engulfed her in his arms and held her tightly as she cried, peppering her wet cheeks with soft kisses. He stroked her hair soothingly “It’s ok my love it’s ok….” he whispered repeatedly until he had soothed her and she had stopped crying. He felt the mattress depress behind him as Cole sat on the bed bringing with him a tray with three cups of tea on it.

He leant down and kissed her softly on her lips, “What happened?”

“I’ve had a bit of bleeding…….Everything was fine until just before we went to leave the first bar we were in…….I bent down to pick my bag up off the floor…….and I felt a small puddle of warmth between my legs…..like when my period is starting……so I went to the loo……thinking it was just my imagination and I was being silly…..only to see that there was blood on my knickers…….” She started to cry again “Am….I losing the baby Gil……is this happening because of the damage to my uterus?”

He still held her in his arms “Bleeding and pain can be a sign of miscarriage, but not always……Did you have any pain?”

She shook her head.

“Ok……that’s good at least, bleeding can happen in the early months of pregnancy and many women do go on to have healthy pregnancies……Can I have a look at you please”. She nodded and went to lie down on her back whilst Gilbert quickly disappeared into their bathroom to wash his hands. When he returned, Cole had taken his place on the bed and was holding her hand. He raised the back of her hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly and then pushed a loose strand of red hair behind her ear for her. His affection for her made Anne smile at him sadly.

“Ok then…..” Gilbert said gently as Cole left the room and he lifted the covers off her. He sat at the end of the bed and removed her underwear and looked at the blood that she had passed on her knickers, he then raised her knees and pulled them apart so he could examine her. He looked up at her face. tears were still in her eyes, and she was biting her lower lip with her teeth as she stared at their bedroom ceiling. Unable to look at her husband’s face in case she saw disappointment cloud his features. He put a reassuring hand on her thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I love you Carrots” he whispered to her and her eyes flicked down to his.

“I love you too…..” she squeaked, emotion getting the better of her and then her eyes went back up to the ceiling. She felt his hands gently touching her as he examined her, she risked a glance down at his face between her legs. His brow furrowed, as it always was when he was concentrating, but other than that he had his doctor poker face on and she was unable to read his expression.

He gently placed her knees back together and pulled her legs back down onto the mattress, and placed the covers back over her. She looked at him anxiously.

“There has been a small amount of bleeding, but I think it has stopped for now” he moved up the bed and took her hand in his and kissed it. “Drink your tea, I think its best that I get you down to the hospital and I’ll do a scan…..you are about 11 weeks at the moment so hopefully the scan will show us if the babies heart is beating ok” he said soothingly. He was obviously used to delivering this kind of information to women every single day, but it was very different when it was his wife and ultimately his own child that he was scanning to see if it was alive or dead, and he had to fight to keep his voice steady and his outward appearance calm.

She sat up and he passed her her tea to drink. After washing his hands again, he took his phone out and rang the hospital to get things lined up so that he could take her straight through to the sonography suite when they arrived there. There were some advantages to being married to one of Toronto’s top obstetricians.

Anne sat shivering in her bed, her knees pulled up and her hands wrapped around her mug. After he had finished on the phone he took his own tea and gulped it down.

“What do you think Gil? Do you think I am going to lose it?” she asked again nervously.

“I honestly don’t know at this stage” he picked her hand up and laced his fingers through hers “We will know so much more after the scan…..are you feeling well enough to get up now”.

She nodded and started to pull the covers back. “Hang on……I’ll get your things for you” he said jumping up off the bed and going over to her underwear drawer and fishing out a pair of her ‘grannie’ knickers as she called them, the ones she preferred to wear when she was on her period. Despite the situation that they were currently in, she couldn’t help but smile a little, it tickled her slightly that he had obviously observed her underwear habits. He also passed her one of the sanitary towels that were in the same drawer. Most husbands would not be this attentive, once again she thanked the lord that Gilbert Blythe loved her.

He helped her get dressed and then assisted her to get up as she gingerly made her way toward the bedroom door.

“The kids?” she suddenly said.

“It’s ok……Cole can stay over and look after them, we’ve already discussed it. Hopefully we shouldn’t be too long……and if we are, Suzie will be back in the morning to take over from him” he gulped heavily as he said the last part of that sentence. She heard the sub text……if the worst was to happen and she carried on bleeding or the scan could not pick up the heartbeat……then they would be delayed at the hospital and she may be admitted.

“Ok” was all she could say.

Cole hugged and kissed her goodbye, reassuring her he would be ok looking after two very young children on his own if they were to wake up.

Gilbert hugged him hard as they left “Thanks man……thank God you were here to look after her” they slapped each other on the back in a blokey way and then Anne and Gilbert made their way to the hospital.

Gilbert put his hand on the small of his wife’s back as he helped her into the car, her face was pale and her lips set into a line. He started the car, put his arm around the back of Anne’s seat and looked over his shoulder to reverse out of the parking space.

“Where were you Gil…..I tried to call you…..I needed you” she said in little more than a whisper. He turned back to face the front of the car.

‘Shit’ he thought to himself. This really wasn’t the time to tell her he had been having dinner with his ex and her brother.

“I bumped into Ron and we went out for dinner……I must have forgotten to take my phone off silent after clinic this afternoon.”

She knew he always had his phone on silent when he was having face to face appointments with his patients.

“Ron?” she questioned “As in Ron Stuart?”

“Yeah” he said as casually as he could.

“Christine’s brother?”

“Yeah……you remember him? You met him a few times before he went onto do his doctorate in Vancouver”.

“Yeah” was all she said, and she turned her head to look out of the window, she placed her hand on her stomach.

“You ok? Are you having any pain?” he questioned concerned. She shook her head silently.

He felt awful. He’d been out at one of the best restaurants in Toronto, whilst she was desperately trying to contact him, thinking she was having a miscarriage. His heart pounded; he should tell her now. He should tell her that Christine had been there too. If he left it any longer then it could potentially become a ‘thing’, it would look like he had tried to hide it from her.

“Anne……” he began, just as she winced in pain, her hand pressed against her stomach and her eyes fearful.

“Shit” he couldn’t help but say. Christine suddenly the last thing on his mind, as he pressed his foot down harder on the gas pedal, not caring if he got a ticket for speeding.

Anne let out a long slow breath, as tears fell down her face. He put his hand on her thigh to try and comfort her, she put her hand on top of his and she squeezed it gently “I’m sorry Gil” she sobbed. Fearing the worse.

“Don’t, don’t say that……things can still be ok Carrots” he said lovingly, withdrawing his hand to stroke her cheek, only one hand on the wheel and his eyes flitting between his wife’s face and the empty road ahead of him.

“I don’t want to lose our baby……” she cried, wiping her nose on his hoody that she had thrown on before leaving the house, she loved wearing his clothes, it made her feel closer to him and the Gilberty smell on them comforted her.

“It’s ok, we don’t know that that’s happening yet……try not to worry” he soothed, trying to smile reassuringly at her as he pulled into his parking space just outside the maternity wing.

He jumped out of the car and ran around to her side to help her out. Maddi, one of the nurses from sonography came out of the building with a wheelchair.

“Hi there Dr Blythe……Audrey sent me down to wait for you” she said as he helped her into the wheel chair.

“Ok thanks Maddi” he said “I can take it from here though”. The nurse nodded and went back to her duties as Gilbert pushed Anne quickly along the corridor.

Ten minutes later Anne was lying on her back staring at the ceiling again, as the sonographer scanned her. Gilbert standing behind the technician intently staring at the screen. Anne couldn’t look at either of their faces. She placed her arm over her eyes, unable to bear the wait a moment longer. She felt Gilberts hand gently lift her left hip up so that the sonographer could get a better view of her uterus. She had had enough ultrasound scans to know that this was fairly normal as her uterus was slightly tilted, possibly due to the damage inflicted by the accident. They muttered between themselves and Gilbert pointed to a few things on the screen. How he knew what the hell he was looking at Anne would never know. Ultrasound scans always just looked like a fuzzy mess to her. She heard the clicking of the mouse, knowing that that meant they were taking measurements of the foetus, so Gilbert would be able to determine whether the baby was growing or not.

“Anne” he said softly and she reluctantly moved her arm away from her eyes, hardly daring to look at him. Her heart pounded as she tried to read the expression on his face. Now that he had her attention, he looked away from her and raised his arm to turn the screen of the ultrasound machine towards her. She held her breath, her chest tight. He turned the screen so that she could see the image of her baby curled up in her womb. A little shadow flickering away in the baby’s chest. His fingers laced through hers and she gasped in relief, knowing that the flickering was the baby’s heartbeat. He squeezed her hand and she looked into his eyes, tears were streaming down his face and although he was biting his lip, there was a smile on his face.

“Is it ok?” she asked her voice strained as she craned her head up off the mattress to see the screen better.

“Yes, the baby’s heartrate is strong and the measurements are all as expected for the gestation period”.

“Why am I bleeding then? I don’t understand”.

Gilbert looked at the sonographer and she moved the scanner slightly on Anne’s abdomen. Gilbert pointed to the screen. “You see here?” he asked her and drew a circle with his finger on the screen around the amniotic sack that the baby was in “This is the where the baby is…….but on this side here…..” he pointed to the side of the amniotic sack, to a much smaller black oval shape “…….we have a second amniotic sack……but it is empty Anne. It is known as an anembryonic pregnancy, empty sac, or blighted ovum”. He paused to see that she was still following him. He knew to always deliver this kind of information slowly as the patient is normally in a state of acute anxiety, and that they sometimes find it difficult to absorb rapidly delivered information. “It happens when a gestational sac does not contain an embryo. In other words, an embryo failed to develop in this sac”. He said pointing to the small black oval.

“So the pregnancy started off as a twin one?” she asked.

“Kind of, there was never an actual foetus in there, the empty sac has probably only been sustained this long due to the hormones the baby on the other side of the uterus is generating……and this is most likely where the bleeding is coming from”.

“So, the baby is ok?”

“Yes, I think so”.

She held her arms out to him and they embraced tightly, he felt his shirt getting damp as she wept into it, he lowered his chin so that he could kiss her. “It’s ok Carrots” he said as he kissed her tenderly, the technician having left the room.

“Can we go home Gil?……I want to be with the children”.

“Of course” he said helping her up off the gurney “But you will need to rest for a few days in bed…..I want you to take it easy Mrs Blythe”. It still made her heart flutter when he called her that. “And you will need to come in for a scan once a week so we can monitor the growth of the baby and the empty sac, it will probably get smaller from here on in……so we will need to monitor that too”.

“What will happen to it?”.

“it will probably wither away and then will come out after the birth with the afterbirth…..but let’s not worry about that now”.

“Will it carry on bleeding?”

“It may do, but it shouldn’t be too heavy……I’ll take tomorrow off work, so that I can keep my eye on you”.

“Ok” she said gratefully, the thought of having her loving husband - let alone the best doctor in a hundred mile radius - by her side, made a huge wave of relief wash over her and she was suddenly exhausted.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home, he must have lifted her from the car and put her to bed as and when she woke up in the morning she could not remember going to bed. Her husband was still fast asleep next to her and was wrapped around her, providing her with a protective cocoon, his breathing deep and regular. She turned in his arms and snuggled into him. She hoped that he never found out that Jack Garrison had turned up unexpectedly to her night out last night.

Xx

Three weeks later Anne lay on the same gurney in the sonography department of the hospital as the technician scanned her. She had experienced a little more bleeding after the night that she had rushed to the hospital with Gilbert, but it hadn’t been too bad. Marilla was sat on one side of her turning her hands over and over anxiously, as she did when she got within about a mile of any hospital. Gilbert had taken the first few days off work to be with her, but after that, Marilla had insisted on coming for a visit to help look after her, and so that she could see the children.

Gilbert now sat on the other side of her, holding her hand and staring at the ultra sound machine’s screen as the technician measured the baby and the empty sac. Gilbert had been right in his diagnosis, and as the baby continued to grow at a healthy rate the empty sac had diminished. Today’s results concurred with the previous ones.

“Do you have time to have lunch with us before you go back to work?” she asked her husband as he helped her get up. He was wearing his best work suit that was dark blue, with his white doctor’s coat on over the top of it, his hospital ID around his neck.

“Huh?” he asked, slightly distracted.

“I said, do you have time for lunch with us?” Marilla passed her her winter coat, as they were now in the depths of winter.

“Sorry Carrots, I don’t…..I’ve got an important meeting with a team of surgeons from UCLH…..” he petered out and his brow furrowed as his mind drifted off to a confidential place that he was not allowed to discuss with his wife.

“Well I hope you will be eating something Gil…..” she could tell that something was on his mind, he looked like he had lost some weight recently. She knew that this was not out of the ordinary for Gilbert Blythe, when something was troubling him or work was on his mind, the first thing to go out of the window was food……he very often just forgot to eat as he became completely absorbed in something.

“Huh?” he said again and Anne just rolled her eyes.

“Please make sure you eat something!” she said sternly.

“Um” was all he said, his mind clearly miles away.

“Gilbert Blythe!” Marilla said sternly, and his hazel eyes snapped to his mother in laws steely blues. “Make sure you have some lunch young man”.

“Yes Marilla” he said as if he was still 6 years old.

Anne smirked at him as he kissed her goodbye and started to make his way back to his office. She knew already what she was going to do.

She caught hold of his hand and he turned to look at her “I’ll bring you something ok, a few treats” he smiled and kissed her again.

“Thanks Carrots” and then he was gone.

She went home and got her mother’s chocolate brownie recipe out, whilst Marilla tried to play the usual music that she liked to listen to whilst she was baking. At home she would put a CD on, but Anne and Gilbert only had smart speakers in their home.

“Hey Cyril, play Rascal Flatts” Marilla called out to the HomePod as she had witnessed, Anne, Gilbert and even Joy doing to get their music to play.

Silence.

“Het Cyril, Play Rascal Flatts” Marilla called again, louder and terser than before.

Silence.

“Infernal thing…….Hey Cyril……” she tried again as Joy toddled into the kitchen with her Jessie doll in her hand.

“No Meemaw……” she shook her little head at Marilla “me help Meemaw……say ‘Si-wee”” she enunciated clearly and looked up at her grandmother with her hazel eyes, her lashes now long and dark, just like her fathers, her chocolate curls tied up in a little pink ribbon. Marilla laughed and swept the little girl up into her arms and gave her a dazzling smile. “You clever, little thing you” she kissed her and Joy giggled.

“Hey Siri, Play Rascal Flatts” Marilla called and the music started playing. Marilla danced around the kitchen with Joy in her arms laughing. Jem toddled in to see what all the fun was.

“You rascal Meemaw” Joy poked Marilla in the chest, as Jem attached himself to Marilla’s ankle as they moved around the kitchen together.

“No, Joy is a rascal” Marilla countered.

Joy shook her head, her curls bobbing up and down. A cheeky smile stretched across her dimpling cheeks. “Dada rascal” she laughed, in that intoxicating way that only a two and a half year old can.

“That, I will not be arguing with” Marilla laughed “Dada, is definitely a rascal”.

Anne stood in the doorway with her mother’s recipe in her hand, smiling at her happy family. The songs took Anne right back to the many hours she had spent learning all of Marilla’s recipes in the Green Gables kitchen. To see Marilla in a rare moment of silliness with her grandchildren was a beautiful moment for Anne. Joy jumped out of Marilla’s arms to be immediately replaced by Jem who was trying to climb up Marilla’s leg. Joy ran to her mother and went on her tippy toes, lifting Anne’s top up and blowing a big fat raspberry on her newly forming baby bump “Mommy’s big tummy” She laughed. “Baba in tummy?” she checked. Anne and Gilbert had told her just the previous evening that another brother or sister was on their way.

“Yes Baba in tummy” she laughed bending down and kissing her daughters head.

They made the brownies together, more chocolate batter seemingly ending up in Joys tummy and all over the kitchen counter than in the oven, and then Anne got in the car to take them on the short journey to the hospital. After parking she made her way to the maternity wing and towards her husband’s office. “Afternoon Ali” she chirped as she approached his receptionist’s desk “I know he’s in a meeting, but I am just gonna pop these on his desk for when he finishes later…...I know he skipped lunch and he’ll be starving….” She laughed.

“Yes of course……they smell delicious…..go straight through”.

“Oh how rude of me…..” Anne opened the tin and offered one to the elderly receptionist, who took one and thanked her.

She pushed the door of his office open; it always made her smile when she came in here. It was 100 % Gilbert Blythe. All of his books neatly stacked on his bookshelves or his desk, his laptop, pens, paperwork and pictures of her and the kids all neatly arranged on his desk. He had a dark grey velvet couch along the window with a cushion on it that she had made for him, she had embroidered the William Blake poem about Joy and Woe on it in silver thread and had given it too him as a gift when he had had his last promotion and had been given this office. She placed the tin of brownies on his desk, no need to leave a note, he would know who they were from. She walked over to the cushion and plumped it up, she was about to put it back down when she saw a pink cashmere cardigan underneath where it had been. She put the cushion to one side and picked the cardigan up. She knew it wasn’t hers, it smelt strongly of perfume and Anne wrinkled her nose up at it.

‘That’s odd’ she thought. She was sure that Gilbert didn’t see patients in his office. He always went downstairs to the clinic to see them. This office was very much his sanctuary, where he came for peace and quiet, where he could work without getting interrupted constantly.

Maybe it was Alison’s. she folded it over her arm and left the office, closing the door behind her. “Is this your cardigan?” she asked, handing it to Gilberts receptionist, convinced it must be hers. Alison took the cardigan and inspected it; she turned it over and looked at the label on it.

“No dear, it’s not mine……I couldn’t afford 100% cashmere on what the hospital pays me here”. She joked and then a little pink flush came across her cheeks, and she frowned slightly. “leave it with me, and I’ll see if anybody comes back looking for it” she flustered.

“Ok, thanks Ali” Anne said slightly confused.

“Oh, and congratulations by the way……I hear number three is on the way” Alison smiled brightly as Anne touched her stomach fondly.

“Thanks…..we are thrilled” she beamed, forgetting about the mysterious cardigan.

“He’s going to need a bigger desk in there soon……” she indicated to Gilberts office with a nod of her head “……to get all of those family photos on, if you two carry on like this” she smiled and gave her bosses wife a cheeky wink, making her laugh.

“And on that note, I am out” Anne blushed as she turned and waved over her shoulder at Gilberts laughing secretary on her way out of the door.

Chapter Text

It was a month after Gilberts meeting with the team of surgeons from UCLH that Gilbert announced that he needed to go London for 3 weeks to train side by side with a pioneering team who were performing foetal surgery with the aim of correcting spina bifida whilst the baby was still in the uterus.

“Spina Bifida is when a baby's spine and spinal cord does not develop properly in the womb, causing a gap in the spine. The condition is a type of neural tube defect. The neural tube is the structure that eventually develops into the baby's brain and spinal cord. It is usually treated after birth but research that has been done in Belgium, shows that repairing the baby's spine earlier can stop the loss of spinal fluid and lead to better long-term health and mobility for the child”.

“So, you would be performing surgery on a child whilst it is still in the uterus?” Anne asked, whilst she unloaded the dishwasher and Gilbert was eating his dinner that she had kept warm for him as he had been late home every night for weeks now. He had even missed putting the kids to bed, something that he normally raced home for if he was running late. He always wanted to kiss and hug them goodnight.

“Yeah, that is ultimately the aim. I have been working closely with the team from UCLH, they have been over here for a couple of months, but for the last part of the training, I need to go to London. I’ll be working at Great Ormand Street”.

“Does that not have a huge risk of miscarriage?”

“All surgery comes at a risk”.

Anne was silent for a few moments as she moved around the kitchen opening drawers and cupboards, putting the dishes away.

“But there is a risk of miscarriage” she stroked her own baby bump.

“Yes, unfortunately there is”.

“Well surely it’s better to have a baby with Spina Bifida and alive, than no baby at all.”

Gilbert put his fork down and rubbed his brow with his forefingers and thumb. “The child’s quality of life will be vastly improved Anne. The children that had had the corrective prenatal surgery in the study, were a lot more independent after the surgery. They can lead almost a normal life”.

“Just because a child has a birth defect doesn’t mean that they automatically need ‘correcting’ Gilbert…. surely the unborn child’s right to life is more important than the parents wanting a perfect child”.

“That is not what I mean and you know it” he said, his head starting to pound again. The research and training programme he had been on for the last few months alongside his normal work commitments and being a father to two young children was leaving him exhausted. “The roll-out of the pre-birth surgery in the UK comes after a major US trial that showed a 50% reduction in the need to have shunts inserted in the brain to drain fluid, a procedure that carries long-term complications Anne”.

“I’m not sure that I am sold on the morality of it Gil” she placed a protective hand on her bump “I just think that as a mother, I would never forgive myself if I had surgery like that and then I lost the child, it would feel as though I had put my desire to have a perfect healthy baby above the need of the child and their right to life”.

He turned in his seat and held his arms out to her. Understanding that the threatened miscarriage had scared her to death. “Come here” he said, indicating for her to sit on his knee. She turned and looked at him, he looked exhausted. He was exhausted she knew that. He had even fallen straight to sleep in bed for the last few weeks……. their sex life had diminished somewhat, what with him being totally exhausted and treating her like she was made of glass after she had had the bleeding. Which had led to them going for a couple of days at a time sometimes between making love, which was practically unheard of for them. Plus, she was in her ultra horny second trimester, and all she wanted to do was have him constantly, especially when he gave her those eyes like he was now.

“You can’t just solve everything by giving me those eyes Gilbert!” she said hotly, turning her back to him and wondering what the hell was wrong with her, all she wanted to do was rip his clothes off and straddle him on that bloody chair and have her wicked way with him. Not just sit on his knee. She flushed and tried to get herself under control

She tried to get a hold of her rapidly developing salacious thoughts, she wasn’t going to give into him, just because she wanted him so badly - letting him think he had won the argument – and just because he was so fucking beautiful, and his eyes…..

She hadn’t heard him get up behind her, but she did feel his warm lips on her neck, kissing her tantalisingly softly and then his arms snake around her waist. She leant back into his kisses, momentarily giving into him.

“Gilbert No!”

He immediately pulled back, looking hurt at her rejection of him.

“I mean it! You can’t just win me over with sex all the time”.

“What?......I……”

“What? You were just after a quickie to shut me up weren’t you?”.

“No!......I can tell you are tense and upset, and I was……”

“Trying to have sex” Anne spat, tears in her eyes.

“Will you let me speak and stop interrupting me all the time…..”

“I do not interrupt you……you just take ages to speak sometimes”.

“That’s because I’m careful with my words and don’t just spit out any old nonsense to try and win an argument regardless of whether I am right or not”.

“’NONSENSE’? is that what you are inferring that I am talking! I won the debating society cup for four years in a row at Redmond you ass, not to mention the CAJ award, and several millions of copies of book sales”. She ranted.

“No, I…….”

“What infinitely more intelligent than me are you?…….just because you are a doctor?”.

“NO! of course not…..Just let me speak for heaven’s sake!.......”

She looked away truculently and folded her arms as she leant back against the kitchen counter top.

“I can tell that you are tense and upset, and I get that, I understand that the threatened miscarriage terrified you……it did me too……I was just trying to comfort you Anne”.

“Bollocks!”

“What the hell is the matter with you?“……. Are you hell bent on, or desperate to have an argument with me today?.......If I had come home and told you that I had procured a real life, rainbow sparkle unicorn for Joys birthday…….I somehow think you would still be pissed at me!”

“Now you are just being ridiculous……Of course I’m desperate for you……I…..Just…..just…..” she stopped mid-sentence, her cheeks flushing scarlet, having given herself away. She knew her Freudian slip wouldn’t have gotten past her husband’s razor-sharp intellect. She watched as something changed in his eyes, he started silently counting something on his fingers and she blushed furiously and turned her back on him, fiddling with the tea towel.

She felt him take a step closer up behind her and her heart flip flopped in her chest and began to race, her breath hitched. She shut her eyes annoyed with herself as she felt his warm breath in her neck as he brushed her hair to one side, lightly touching her neck with his fingertips as he exposed her milky neck.

“You are desperate for me?” he whispered lowly and kissed her neck again.

“For fucks sake Gilbert!”

She turned around and glared at him. But he was smiling smugly at her, a teasing smile stretched across his face.

“You are 24 weeks pregnant….You are in your second trimester……” was all he said and laughed “You ARE desperate for me!” he threw his head back and laughed.

“Don’t you laugh at me you pig” she went to angrily swat him but he caught her wrist before it made contact with his body. They both froze, his eyes dark. He held her wrists lightly in his hands.

“Well fuck me……I never thought I would hear that…..Anne Shirley, ‘desperate’ for Gilbert Blythe.” He gloated.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but her flushing chest, cheeks and dilated pupils gave her away.

He tapped his two fore fingers that were resting on her pulse point on her wrist.

“Tachycardia……an elevated pulse rate” He kissed the inside of her wrist, never taking his eyes off hers. “Ereuthrophobia of the face and neck…..” he kissed his way up from her neck, along her jaw and just behind her ear.

She began to almost pant.

“Tachypnea, or rapid, shallow breathing……..” he kissed the corner of her mouth and pulled back suddenly when she started to turn her lips towards his. His eyes met hers, beautiful sparkling green, pupils dilated as far as they could.

“Uhm…..pupils also dilated……..” he noted and he kissed the side of her face just next to her red eyebrow.

“Do you want to know what my diagnosis is Mrs Blythe?”

“Ooooh” was all Anne could whimper, his body now pressing her hard up against the work top. She was gonna completely lose it any time about now.

“In my professional opinion…….” He paused and gave her his serious doctor face combined with the most bewitching smoulder she had ever seen, looking at her through his long lashes. He moved his lips to the side of her face “……you are absolutely, fucking gagging for it” he whispered in her ear.

She couldn’t stand his teasing anymore and grabbed his face and kissed him hard, her hands in his hair, pulling it almost painfully. He groaned against her lips.

“Get your fucking trousers off then, you irritating git” she panted and grabbed hold of his smart white work shirt that he was still wearing and ripped it open, buttons pinging off in all directions and bouncing all over the kitchen. He gasped in surprise and her hands moved down to his belt.

He slapped his hands over hers as she fiddled with his belt to stop her movements.

“Why so fast Shirley?……..maybe I want to be romanced……do you know how to romance a man?” echoing her words back in Antigua. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it in a gentleman like manner. Knowing that he was teasing her to death and she was about to explode, and loving every minute of it.

“Get your fucking clothes off and get into my bed” she ordered, pushing his hands away and starting to undo his belt again.

He pulled back from her slightly, and smirked at her “I remember you saying that to me once before” he said ever so lightly “And I seem to remember you saying then, that that would be the only time you would ever say that to me…….and look …..here we are again, with you begging me to get naked in your bed” he teased.

“I am not ‘begging’ you Gilbert Blythe…..I am ordering you……now get into bed, and get fucking naked, or I will rip the rest of your damn clothes off you”.

It was now Gilberts turn to flush as he began to lose his cool, he loved that Anne was confident in bed and not passive, they always took it in turns to be the dominating one.

She grabbed him again and kissed him senseless as she dragged him into the bedroom, his dinner and the dishwasher forgotten.

“And no fucking quickie either……we have got all night to enjoy each other. The kids are in bed Dr Blythe, and I am going to enjoy every……single …….fucking…….minute of you”.

“Don’t you mean every single inch of me?”

“You are a cheeky fucker”

“Just how you love me”.

They kissed passionately on the bed, their clothing being dispensed with and thrown all over the room.

“And Gilbert?”

“Yeah” he breathed, barely taking his lips from her skin.

“Don’t hold back”.

“But…..”

“You heard me, didn’t you?”

“Fuck yeah”.

“Well, be a good little husband then, and do as you are fucking told”.

She didn’t need to say anything else. But Dr Gilbert Blythe went to work the following day with a spring in his step and a smile on his face.

Chapter Text

“Book Sales!” Jack said, leaning across Anne to grab the soy sauce. “Book sales have fallen by 9% last year……and you know whose fault it is?......Netflix”.

Anne laughed.

“One of the difficulties that fiction comes up against is the sheer pressure on people’s leisure time,” he poured a puddle of soy sauce over his sushi “People make a choice between watching a Netflix box set or reading a novel.” He shook his head sadly. “Netflix has previously outlined fiction or reading a book as one of its ‘competitors’…… along with going out to dinner with friends or enjoying a glass of wine with their partner. They seriously will not be satisfied until we are all sit in front of Stranger Things 24/7 with no friends, partners and social lives. When the apocalypse comes, I guarantee you, it will be Netflix’s fault…..you heard it here first” he tapped the table next to his plate to emphasis his point.

Anne chuckled and wiped a small grain of rice from the corner of her mouth with her napkin as she sat at the revolving sushi bar “Ah well, dinner, friends and wine are dead, too…….Except are they? Really? In my experience, these days talking about Netflix, or television, is as much a part of dinner with friends as the wine is……When I get together with my girlfriends all we talk about is what books we are reading or what we have watched on Netflix…….

“What like Cocomelon or Peppa Pig” Jack interrupted her and she smiled and carried on.

“……These things can co-exist – as they have done for almost a century: television is not exactly a new threat to our leisure time, I still firmly believe that most people can make room for both in their lives, if they really want too…….Phones, on the other hand, are concentration kryptonite.”

“Netflix also sees ‘sleep’ as a direct competitor”.

“Tell that to every 14 year old there is, who are all up until 5am every morning so that they can ‘watch just one more episode’”. She mimed begging and then laughed.

“I don’t know why you are laughing, that will be you in a few years time”.

Anne rolled her eyes and nodded; she and Gilbert were already having to be careful with how much screen time they allowed Joy to have each day, and she wasn’t even three years old yet.

Jack indicated to the waiter that he needed another drink “Anyway, even though book sales are down……Tolken Publishing are investing more this year than ever before in new and emerging talent Anne………I have got to say, I have read your draft manuscript……. and I can’t tell you how pleased I am with it……” he grinned at her as her face lit up “ I laughed, I cried…….you have made ME want to be a better author”.

Anne’s mouth dropped open and Jack thought she was choking as tears welled up in her eyes and she seemed to be holding her breath.

“Are you ok?” he asked, slightly alarmed.

“Yeah” she suddenly gasped, drawing a large gulp of air in and shaking her head slightly, as if trying to make sure she wasn’t in a dream.

He reached over and put his hand on hers, she was too stunned to move it away. “I was moved despite myself……. once in a life time you meet someone who you consider to be a wonderful and creative individual……and I have found that in you Anne ……I wish I could be more like that……the way you write excites me”.

He picked her hand up and placed it on his heart, she felt that it was racing, before she pulled it away and out of his grasp.

“Thank you for the compliments……It means a lot to me coming from somebody that has had the kind of success that you have……but I am sure that you are just being too kind”. Anne’s cheeks were bright red, and she waved her paper napkin in front of her as a bit of a completely useless fan.

“I would even go so far as to say that I think you could be Tolken’s next female best seller”.

Anne laughed, “That would never happen, I would have to publish it with your name to do that” she joked.

“Well, I am more than happy to put my name to it, write a forward, or come on the promotional tour with you”.

‘Promotional tour’ she thought to herself, she hadn’t even begun to think that far ahead. She had only just finished the first draft of her story. She couldn’t do a promotional tour. What about Gilbert and the children, and she was 6 months pregnant for heaven’s sake, she couldn’t either leave her baby whilst she swanned off on a promotional tour, and she didn’t want to take the baby away from its father and siblings either as much as she didn’t want to be away from them.

“This is a wonderful book Anne…..It does still need some work of course, but it would be an honour to be associated with it” Jack could sense her internal turmoil.

“It will take me forever to finish the book Jack, I’m 6 months pregnant……and you have only seen the first draught”.

“Look, I am your editor, I’m going to clear my schedule and we can submit it within the month. I can come over to yours and we can work on it together. If you need help with the kids or if you need to take it easy…….I will be there for you……I have faith in you Anne……I have faith in us. We are a great team……we can do this before you have the stress of having a new born to look after”. He grabbed her hand that was resting on her knee and squeezed it, his fingers lightly brushing her knee as he did so.

Anne’s mind was in such a spin, she almost did not register his subtle action “Alright” she nodded “I’ll finish this draft and send it to you”. She said purposefully and re crossed her legs so he had to let go of her hand. She checked her watch. “I’d better be going, I’ve got a hospital appointment” that was a bit of a lie, she was meeting her husband for a check-up at the hospital, but she pushed it to the back of her mind.

“I’m hosting a charity ball in two weeks Anne, I want you to come……I’ll text you the details. We need to start raising your public profile, get a bit of social media chatter going on around you. You are of course welcome to bring a plus one……” his eyes drifted down to her wedding ring.

“Oh lovely……thank you…..I’ll bring my husband of course” she gushed. Why was that the first time she had mentioned that she had a husband? Why did she feel as though she was somehow leading him on? She shook her head at herself, she was being ridiculous. She was a professional, she didn’t have to blab about her personal life with every colleague that she worked with. It was ok to keep some aspects of her life private. She inwardly rolled her eyes at herself; she was such a fucking hypocrite it was embarrassing. Here she was convincing herself that she kept hers and Gilberts relationship private, when she was effectively writing about it and planning on publishing it for all of the world to see.

Xx

“So, how’s my favourite patient then?” Gilbert shut his clinic office door and kissed her, pressing her up against the wall. He had only been back from his training in London for a few days and she had missed him like crazy.

She kissed him back and then smiled “I hope you don’t welcome all of your patients into your office that way”.

“Only the ones who are having my baby” he smiled back at her, cheekily. “The sonograph is booked in for five minutes time, he said checking his watch. “But let me take your obvs first”. She went over and sat on the treatment couch, whilst he got out his blood pressure equipment and wrapped the velcro sleeve around the top of her arm.

“How did your lunch meeting go?” he asked almost absently as the cuff tightened painfully around her arm.

“Really well……although I could only have the cooked options of course, Jack hadn’t thought about that” she smiled at him and then remembered uncomfortably how Jack had put his hands on her. “He really liked my first draft though”.

The blood pressure cuff released and she felt the throbbing in her arm slowly dissipate as she watched her husband put his glasses on and flip through her notes. The machine beeped to say it was ready to be read and Gilbert frowned when he looked at the reading.

“It’s a little high today Carrots……how are you feeling?”

“I’m ok…….I think”.

He adjusted the cuff on her arm and set the machine going again to double check it. His frown deepened as the reading came out higher than the previous one.

“Are you feeling stressed?” He asked “has Jack upset you or stressed you out” he asked his brow furrowing and looking at her anxiously over the top of her glasses.

Those fucking glasses!

“No…...no, if anything it’s you”.

“Me?”

“Yes you……. white coat syndrome…….and those glasses aren’t helping” she smiled at him to try and relieve his anxiety. She placed her hand on his cheek and stood up and kissed him lightly on the lips. She felt the tension in his body relax as he hugged her.

“I don’t want you overdoing it……I can’t bear to think of you getting sick again like you did with Joy” his voice wobbled as he held her tighter in his arms and he buried his face into her hair and kissed it tenderly.

“Don’t worry, I’m ok…….I have just been rushing around a bit today, it’s probably just that”.

“Ok” he said quietly.

“And I don’t know if you have noticed, but my doctor is as hot as fuck……all I can think about is having him here on this couch” she said innocently and stroking the space on the couch next to her, making him smile.

“Well it wouldn’t be the first time” he sighed and they both chuckled as they remembered that occasion when she had visited him at work shortly after they had been married. He kissed her softly and then pulled away from her and went over to a set of drawers that was filled with all manner of medical equipment and pulled out a specimen pot and handed it to her. “There you go….” he nodded in the direction of the bathroom “…..you know what to do”.

“And they say romance is dead” Anne smiled and made her way over to the bathroom.

“Well, the dip test is all ok……but I am a bit worried about your blood pressure” he said soon after she had exited the bathroom and handed him the urine sample. “I am going to need you to slow down a bit Anne…….no more clattering away on your keyboard at 3 am……yes, I heard you”. He carried on even though she had tried to interrupt him.

She pouted and folded her arms, trying to be cute and get around him. She knew he liked it when she was fiery “I was up with Jem anyway, I was just struck by an idea Gil, and if I don’t write it down, it just keeps me awake anyway, so it’s better to get it down on paper and out of my head, so I can then get a peaceful night’s sleep”.

“I mean it Anne, it’s not worth risking your health for……. perhaps we need to ask Suzie to do more hours with us” he thought out loud.

“I’m fine Gil. Besides, Jack has offered to come over to our apartment to make it easier for me……he really wants to help me.”

Gilbert frowned again “It looks to me Anne like he’s getting a little too involved if you ask me…..is that normal for an editor to do?”

“He has offered to write a forward for me, and to be my ghost writer, so that his name can be associated with the project…..” she looked at Gilberts handsome face and his frown deepened as he steered her out of the door and locked it. “……. Gil, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me”. She said as they turned and walked down the corridor to the sonography department.

“Or this could possibly be the most absurd scheme you have come up with….. and for you Miss Shirley that takes a lot. What successful writer has ever written with another successful author as a ghost writer? He will get all of the attention and credit Anne, surely you must be able to see that”.

Anne huffed, “Well maybe ‘ghost writer’ is not an accurate description of the agreement……maybe that was a bit if an exaggeration. He just wants to support me as best he can, he is my editor and I am very lucky to have him……everyone has editors Gil…….” She petered out looking anxious.

Gilbert looked concerned, but nodded and gave her a tight smile. He was fairly sure it was the writing that was stressing her out. But he knew how much she loved it, and the last thing he wanted to do was to stop her from following her dreams. He decided that he would keep his concerns to himself for now, so as to not add to her stress. That was as long as her blood pressure did not get any worse or out of control. If that happened then he would have no choice but to step in.

Chapter Text

Over the next couple of weeks Anne worked like a mad thing on the new version of her manuscript. Jack hadn’t managed to clear his schedule as he had suggested, but he had sent her a plan of how he thought she could improve her novel, to make it more relatable to a modern audience.

Anne had baulked when she had read through it. He had made it clear that he wanted her to write sex scenes between the two lead characters, even though it was a period piece. He said that that was what was now normal in best sellers, especially those aimed at a female audience. She pushed her self away from her desk, trying to distance herself from her laptop - the source of most of her stress in her life – and chewed in her nails. She had hardly even read that kind of book, let alone written that kind of story…..is that what people really wanted to read these days?…..Maybe it was the aftermath of the ‘Fifty Shades’ phenomenon.

She had wandered out of the bedroom where she tended to sit and work, it was the best place for her to lose herself and emersed herself in her work, without being disturbed by the children. Suzie had been amazing, and had worked many extra hours allowing her to crack on with her novel. She walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on. It was a Saturday morning, so Gilbert was at home, her incessant click clacking on her laptop keyboard had woken him up early and had driven him out of the bedroom.

She walked into the living room to find Gilbert just clad in a pair of work out shorts and nothing else doing press ups on the carpet.

She smiled, and then grinned, unable to stop herself from laughing as he huffed and puffed, his curls wet with sweat and the muscles in his arms straining under the extra weight on his back.

“Well, that’s one way of doing resistance training……and entertaining the kids all at the same time” she laughed. She took her phone out and took a picture, that one was going straight to Diana.

“Silly Daddy” Joy said from her position on her father’s back. She was lying back to back atop him, her little hands behind her head and her right foot up on her left knee which was bent up. Looking very relaxed whilst her father pressed up and down underneath her, a sheen of sweat covering his tanned skin.

“99….100….” he huffed and then collapsed in a heap.

“Again Daddy, again” Joy cheered, now lightly stamping her feet on his bottom.

Anne sat down on the couch and watched him as he rolled over taking Joy with him. He plonked her on his knees and started doing sit ups and high fived his daughter with alternate hands each time he came up, counting with her in fives. Anne’s eyes drifted over his body that she now knew every inch of. Every little mole and birthmark, the way that his hair always curled up slightly behind his ear, never mind how much he tried to flatten it down. The little ridges of his abs becoming more defined as he sat up with each repetition of his moves. God he was fucking handsome……she was one lucky woman.

Before Gilbert, she hadn’t really had much experience when it came to sex. She had only had two other sexual partners in her life before him, and both of them had quite frankly been a massive disappointment. She hadn’t known what it was really like, and how wonderful it could actually be until she had slept with her best friend on holiday. And wow! He had completely blown her mind, ruined her really. Even though she had been totally clueless about how she felt about him. She knew even then that she would never want anybody else but him. She could see that now looking back. She remembered how his other girlfriends always used to go on about how amazing he was in bed, and how it always seemed to annoy him that they were over sharing what was their private intimate moments together and should only be between them. He didn’t want them sharing those kinds of details with their friends and he seemed especially annoyed when in occurred in front of her.

She frowned to herself and wondered if all of Josie’s and Christine’s comments and all those whispers she had heard about him, had influenced her decision about going into their ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement in Antigua. Had she wanted to try the famous Gilbert Blythe out? To see what she had been missing out on. Her stomach rolled as she thought about all of those girls that he had taken home whilst she was going out with Roy. She had known then that she didn’t like it, but she had just put those emotions down to being concerned for her best friend, that he was getting out of control.

She knew now that he hadn’t actually had sex with all of those girls, in fact most of the time it hadn’t been much more than a make out session. He had told her after they had gotten together that it had never very often progressed to more than that, as he just could not get her out of his head.

She looked back at him as he flopped onto the floor again, this time he was using a giggling Jem as a weight, repeatedly lifting him over his head.

“MY turn now Daddy” Joy asserted, trying to barge her little brother out of the way. Jem was so placid he just wiggled away from Gilbert and then toddled over to Anne and sat on her knee, while Gilbert strained to lift Joy this time.

They had spoken on many occasions about the book she was writing, she constantly bounced ideas off him and welcomed his suggestions, she had always respected his opinion too, just as he had always respected hers. She knew without having to ask him, that he would not want her writing intimate scenes, that possibly reflected their sex life together. She would not do that to him, to them.

“Are you ok….you look very lost in thought there” she noticed he was watching her “Is it the book?”

“Yeah, Jack has emailed me some suggestions that I’m not entirely happy with”.

“It’s your book Anne, don’t forget that”. He turned back over onto his front and started doing another set of press ups.

“MY do it!” Jem said crawling off Anne, and Gilbert paused whilst Jem climbed on his back. Joy sat in the corner and sulked.

“I know, but he is only trying to help me be the best that I can be…...he is a very successful writer Gil, he knows the formula for writing a best seller” she nibbled her nails.

“This isn’t about being a best seller Anne, it’s about doing what makes YOU happy, not Jack Garrison or the publishers” he huffed.

“I get that, but if the publishers aren’t happy, then the book doesn’t get published, and all this will be moot anyways” she sighed, picking the end of her braid up and examining it.

“Well write it how you want, and if Jack doesn’t like it, then make the changes if necessary…..there is no point worrying about it before it has even happened.”

“You are such a scientist sometimes” she smirked at him, he was the perfect Ying to her Yang, they seemed to make the perfect balance. She jumped up of the couch and kissed his sweaty head as he continued to press up and down. “Thank you my darling…..You have answered my dilemma”. She said and then paused and pointed to the carpet underneath him “…….and just so you know……it’s MY turn later”. She winked at him and turned and headed for the bedroom wiggling her bottom as she went, knowing he would be watching her.

xx

Anne took Gilberts advice and wrote her book how she wanted it, she was a strong and independent woman, she could do this!

But by the time the night before Jacks charity ball came though, she was back to being a bag of nerves again. After a lot of pacing and nail biting, she gave a huge sigh, closed her eyes and pressed ‘send’ in order to email her work to him.

She spent most of the following day getting ready for the ball. Hair appointments, nail appointments and facials. The publishers even sent a professional makeup artist over to her house, as there were going to be a lot of celebrities and media present at the event.

But most of all she spent the day fretting.

Gilbert was at work all day of course, so she didn’t even have him to bounce off. Thank God for Suzie. She had become like one of the family, she was amazing with the kids and now even Joy liked her, and asked every morning if she was going to see her that day.

There was a quiet knock at Anne’s bedroom door and Suzie came in with a cup of tea for her, a straw sticking out of her favourite cup that Joy had ‘painted’ for her at the local ‘Pots of Art’ craft shop as a mother’s day present for her a few months ago.

“Here you go” she passed her the drink “I put the straw in so you don’t smudge your lipstick” she said.

“Thanks Suzie, that’s really thoughtful of you……” she took a sip “Jeez, I could murder a G and T right now” she sighed and stroked her bump “I hope you appreciate this mister….” She said to her unborn son. They had discovered at her scan two weeks ago that they were having a boy. “……if it wasn’t for you, I would be half way to being plastered right now”.

“I don’t know why you are so nervous Anne…..you are going to wow them tonight……wait until the good doctor gets back……” Suzie laughed. even though she was only 24, she seemed to have an old soul, she seemed to easily switch between being the young and fun that the kids needed, to being old and wise, more like a grandmotherly figure when the situation required it, with a complete and natural ease.

Anne stood up and paced the room “How am I going to get through it?.......I hate being the centre of attention……even if it’s in a good way…..although normally it’s in a bad way……maybe that is why I am so nervous. Something always goes wrong……I say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing……and my temper always gets the better of me……what if I make a complete fool of myself, in front of all of those important people…….my career will be over before it has even begun!” she rambled, plopping down on her dressing table stool and putting her head in her hands.

Suzie put a supportive hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Anne you are going to be fine, you have nothing to worry about here, go out, have a lovely time with Gilbert and work that goddamn room, they will all be blown away.” she laughed after checking over her shoulder to make sure the kids hadn’t gotten out of bed and could hear her.

“Oh God…..” Anne groaned checking her watch “Where is he……the last thing I need is to be late, the car will be here in 15 minutes”.

“Stop worrying, it takes guys like 30 seconds to get ready for these things, and if you are running a little late, so what? It’s called ‘making an entrance’ not being ‘late’ in showbiz circles darling” she imitated a camp manner that is so often affected by the lovies at showbiz parties.

Anne’s shoulders relaxed, and she smiled at Suzie, just as they heard Gilberts key in the door. “See…..I told you you wouldn’t be late” Suzie laughed just as Gilbert burst through the bedroom door, “I know, I know…….I’m sorry I’m late” he rambled, his shirt already off and tossed on the hallway floor, and he was already undoing his belt and flies as he flew into the bedroom, his trousers halfway down his thighs before he realised that Susie was in their room too.

“Shit!” he exclaimed and blushed bright red at the two women laughing at him, and pulled his trousers back up. “Shit sorry Suzie” he said as he looked over at Anne. She was sitting on her stool, wearing a figure hugging champagne gold sequined and beaded dress, that was slit high up on her thigh, one milky leg crossed over the other, with gold strappy shoes on, and her red hair curled and falling over her shoulder. “Jesus, you look fucking amazing” he gaped at her, his hands relaxing and his trousers falling down to his hips again as he ogled his beautiful wife.

“I’ll er…….leave you to get ready” Suzie sniggered and quickly left the room.

15 minutes and several neck kisses later (no lips allowed, due to the professional makeup application), Gilbert Blythe was just straightening his bow tie when they heard the chauffeurs knock at the door. His curls were still slightly damp from the shower, but he looked incredibly handsome in his black tuxedo.

“Do you have any idea how annoying you are?” Anne asked him playfully as he straightened up from tying his best shoes, his wedding shoes she noted.

“Why?” he quirked.

“Because you look like that” she gesticulated from his head to his toes “In like five minutes…..and it’s taken me literally all day to get ready”.

“You underestimate me Mrs Blythe” he said taking her by the waist and kissing down her neck again, and making her sigh “I did get a haircut at lunch time……that took me a whole twenty minutes” he looked back up at her and his eyes were twinkling with mischief.

“You are a cocky bastard do you know that…..you know just how fucking good looking you are don’t you?” she laughed.

“Are you for real…….have you seen yourself lately” he turned her around so that she was standing facing the full length mirror, with him behind her. “Anne, you look like a Goddess” he kissed her neck again, slightly forgetting himself and getting carried away.

“The dress is beautiful yes……But I am nearly seven months pregnant……I look like a whale dressed up as a Christmas bauble”.

He laughed at her silliness and stopped his kisses on her neck only to look up at her in the mirror. His hand moved from her hips and moved across the swell of her baby bump. He caressed her lovingly and his eyes went dark, he recommenced his kisses on her neck and she leaned into him. “Can I tell you a secret…..” he asked breathlessly.

“Yeah” she sighed closing her eyes.

“It really turns me on to see you pregnant with my child” he breathed, his hands were still on her bump and he pressed himself into her back “That you have my child growing inside you……to see you all swollen and glowing …..and to know that I did that to you…..it’s like the fucking sexiest thing ever”.

“Jesus Gil” she moaned, “Why do you tell me that now when……”

Suzie knocked on the bedroom door “Your Car is here”.

“When we have to go out……” she moaned and turned in his arms and kissed him senseless, pushing him up against the bedroom door, not caring about her lipstick, or the mess she was making of his face.

“Er did you hear me Anne?” Suzie sniggered, probably guessing what was going on in the bedroom.

“Yeah…..we will be right out” Gilbert sighed reluctantly, peeling Anne off him with one last light kiss to her nose, and making his way to the bathroom to clean her lipstick off his face, as she reapplied hers at the mirror.

“Ready?” he asked holding his hand out to her and she took it, lacing her fingers through his. He squeezed her hand supportively.

“Do we have to go?” she whined.

“Yes”.

“But I’m really nervous Gil…..what if Jack hates what I have done, the changes I have made…..all those famous people there who are truly talented……and me…..I don’t deserve to be there….I feel like a lamb being led to the slaughter”.

“Anne……” he turned to her and looked deep into her eyes “……. take a deep breath…. and have faith in your own ability…...you are an amazing writer…..AND……you do not need him telling you what to do……you can do this on your own, with or without Jack Garrison”. He kissed her cheek and gave her an encouraging smile.

“Mrs Lynde always said I have the nerve of a canal horse” she smiled “Do we have to go?” she tried again.

“Yes”, he laughed “Besides I’m er ‘looking forward’ to meeting this Jack Garrison person” he said sarcastically, but she was in too much of a tizz for it to register with her.

“Ok, but do not leave my side for five minutes Gilbert Blythe……I need you!”

He smiled and stroked her cheek with his thumb lovingly “Always” he said.

They made their way out of the bedroom hand in hand.

“Oh and by the way…..it may have taken you all day to get that dress on……just so you know, I’m going to take all night to take it off you” he whispered in her ear.

She laughed and her shoulders relaxed. She looked up at him with sparkling eyes. He always cheered her up. She could do anything with him by her side.

Xx

Although Gilbert had managed to settle her nerves as they had left their cosy apartment, they had returned in full force by the time the limousine was pulling up in front of Ritz Carlton Hotel.

She grabbed hold of his hand in the back of the car and he could see that her legs were trembling as she took in the pack of journalists and paparazzi assembled outside of the hotel.

“Christ, is that Matthew Perry?” Gilbert exclaimed excitedly, leaning across Anne in the back of the car and guffawing as he took in the ‘Friends’ superstar quickly posing for the cameras before making his way into the hotel along the yellow carpet. Yellow was the colour of the ‘Authors for Alzheimer’s’ charity, that the ball was in aid of.

“Gil!” Anne begged “Please be cool”.

“I can’t believe it…..how many times have we watched ‘Friends’ together, and Chandler has always been my favourite character…….I hope Justin Trudeau isn’t going to be here tonight…..that could get real awkward!”

“What the hell am I doing here……nobody knows who the hell I am……shit…..this is gonna be so embarrassing…….let’s just get out of the car and get straight through the hotel doors as quickly as possible…..ok” she fretted.

“Yeah, of course. You are a published author and an award-winning journalist yourself remember Anne……you have every right to be here” he reassured her.

The car stopped and the chauffer got out to come around and open the door for them.

“Shit!” she said again “I feel like I’m gonna be sick” she whispered.

“What really?” Gilbert asked alarmed.

“No…..I……” was all she got to say before the door was wrenched open she was suddenly blinded by the flash of camera’s going off in rapid succession.

She felt Gilbert disappear from her side as he leapt out of the other side of the car and dashed around to her side to offer her his hand to help her out. She remembered the small amount of media training she had had when her first book had been published, and thank fully remembered to keep her thighs pressed together and turn your whole body around when exiting a car, so as to not flash one’s knickers to the worlds press.

She slipped her hand into Gilberts warm one that he was holding out for her. His back was to the cameras and as she looked up into his sparkling hazel eyes, he gave her a wink of reassurance.

She looked like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights as she stood up and straightened her dress. “Miss Anne Shirley and Dr Gilbert Blythe” the event organiser announced to the press from beside them, making them both jump.

“Anne!...... this way please Anne!” the photographers started shouting and flashes started going off again. Gilbert took a step towards them and placed Anne in front of the cameras, “Smile please Anne”. She recognised Tim Goode, a photographer from Toronto Today and felt herself relax, she had been on many assignments with him and knew him quite well. She grinned at him, winked and slightly curtsied, flashes going off frantically around her. “You look amazing Anne” he yelled at her over the rest of the photographers. She gave him a little wave and looked around for Gilbert, suddenly realising that he was no longer beside her. She saw him standing to one side several feet away from her, his hands in his pockets and a proud look on his face. she suddenly realised that he was letting her have the spotlight on her own, allowing her to shine. God, she loved him.

As she was looking at her husband to her right, she suddenly felt a hand on her waist, and noticed Gilberts expression flicker slightly as he looked behind her. She followed his gaze and looked around to see that Jack had appeared from inside the hotel and had put his arm around her. Posing for the cameras. The camera flashes went insane as Jack changed the angle that they were facing every few seconds, so as to give every photographer the best view of them.

He leant into her ear “You look amazing Anne” he whispered.

She smiled, but it was somewhat strained, and she eventually stepped away from him. Thankful that Brian Adams’ car had just pulled up and there was now a media scrum as all of the photographers clambered to gain his attention. She looked around for Gilbert, but couldn’t see him, she figured that he must have gone into the hotel. She picked her dress up and started to make her way towards the hotel door, she tripped slightly on the uneven carpet and before she knew it, a hand had reached out to steady her. She looked up to see Gilbert, his face set and his eyes concerned.

“Ooopsie…..Are you ok?” he asked softly.

“Yeah” she breathed, taking the crook of his arm that he was offering her and clinging to him, bringing his body as close to hers as she could. “But I need a drink, my mouth is as dry as Joys sandpit”.

He smiled at her and the tension in his face dissolved.

“Tea?” he asked, knowing her too well.

She nodded gratefully as they made their way through the hordes of local dignitaries and celebrities. She saw the previous Mayor of Toronto who had been her first big interview when she got her job at Toronto Today across the room talking to Justin Bieber. She shook her head, today didn’t seem real.

They stood towards the back of the hall, Gilberts hand on the small of her back, his thumb tracing small circles to trying to sooth her nerves away as she sipped her tea. But ultimately, he helped her relax in the way that he always did…...by making her laugh. He pointed out celebrities and then preceded to turn around and take selfies with the said celebrities in the background with a goofy or starstruck look on his face. They had their heads together laughing at a picture of Gilbert swooning with Shawn Mendes in the back ground when they heard somebody clear their throat just in front of them.

“You must be Dr Blythe?” Jack suddenly said to Gilbert, and extended his hand to shake his, A copy of a manuscript rolled up in his other hand.

“Mr Garrison, I have been…..er….. looking forward to meeting you” he frowned slightly and Anne shot him a look, picking up on his sarcasm this time. Fortunately, Jack didn’t seem to.

“The object of such devotion…..” Jack said wistfully looking at Anne “…….you are one lucky man…..” his eyes swept appreciatively over Anne, and she shifted her weight from one foot to another, looking uncomfortable. Jack slapped Gilbert rather hard on the shoulder, in a gesture that appeared chummy, but to Gilbert it didn’t feel remotely friendly, as his skin stung under his jacket and shirt. Where Jack had hit him.

“………to hold this young woman’s intense esteem and adoration……a writer is often only married to the art of language……”.

Gilbert bristled at his flowery language……he spoke as Anne often did when she was caught up in her imagination. His stomach lurched at the thought that this Jack Garrison person may be more like Anne than he was, and that they had the love of language, art and culture in common, which he didn’t really share. He made a mental note to self to try and be more cultured.

“……And what with you being a doctor and at work all the time……I can see why she channels all of her passions into her writing”.

Gilbert blinked a few times and laughed awkwardly. ‘What the hell kind of comment was that!?’ he thought to himself. Had Anne been complaining to him about his long hours?

“Oh, don’t worry Mr Garrison, we have plenty of time for passion” he raised his eyebrow and glanced down at Anne’s baby bump, and stroked her softly on the small of her back, causing Anne to blush prettily. They glanced at each other and that familiar pulse of electricity passed between them.

Jack cleared his throat, to get their attention back to him, just as the previous Mayor of Toronto walked by them. Jack caught hold of his elbow.

“David……I would like to introduce you to Miss Anne Shirley and her husband Dr Gilbert Blythe…..Anne is one of my aspiring authors and Dr Blythe here is a senior staff member at Toronto General…..he’s an obstetrician…..I am sure there are a lot of people who want to meet him here, involved with potential fund raising. Can I leave him in your capable hands whilst I whisk Miss Shirley here away……” he held his arm out for her to take “Miss Shirley and I have a bit of business to take care of to complicate things.” He raised the manuscript in the air, indicating that that was what he was going to talk to her about. Anne looked slightly embarrassed and slipped her small hand into the crook of Jacks arm.

She glanced at Gilbert over her shoulder as she was led away on Jacks arm. She could tell by Gilberts expression that he was not exactly happy.

“I think Mr Garrison is quite taken with your wife” David said, shrewdly watching the situation play out in front of him.

Gilbert turned and looked down at him, he had heard that they had called him ‘The Tiny Perfect Mayor’ whilst he had been in office, he made Gilbert feel like a giant, towering over him. He smiled warmly at the little man, he had a cheeky face and Gilbert felt an instant bond with the man.

“Well Anne isn’t easily influenced, especially when it comes to her writing, I don’t think he quite knows what he is up against” he smirked, taking a sip of his champagne. Garrison may have a love of books and culture in common with Anne, but that would never overshadow the bond and the love and the rich history that he and Anne shared. It would take more than a jumped-up author to come between them.

Chapter Text

Jack led Anne into a side room and closed the doors behind him. He looked pensive.

“I take it you got my email” Anne said nervously, lowering herself down onto a chair.

“Um” was all Jack said as he paced the room and ran his hand over his chin.

“Well what did you think?” she asked brightly, he had been very receptive to her preliminary works.

He stopped pacing and stood and looked at her “I’m sorry Anne, it’s awful, it’s just not good enough”.

Anne froze “I beg your pardon?”

“You changed everything that was good about it, I don’t know what happened but you need more heat…… it is just like a child’s book again, what do you want to be Anne, a child’s author or a serious novelist, you may as well burn this…..you need to start over”.

“Burn it!” she echoed horrified “I thought I was writing the way you wanted me too…..I’ve completely exhausted myself making this work”.

“Well go back to the children’s literature then, I know when something will not work Anne. If you want to sell this book, heck even get it published, then you need to heed my advice…..that is why I am helping you, that is my job here”.

Anne felt the iron enter her soul, she stood up and glowered at him, her chin raised in the air defiantly.

“No!”

“You have such a gift...the gift of human insight and you are wasting it on this….” He thumped his forefinger down onto the printed copy of the manuscript that was sitting between them on the table. “…..I gave you suggestions Anne. If we work on this together, this could be a real hit, but you just heed my advice and make the changes”.

“I am not happy with your suggestions Mr Garrison, not every book has to follow the same formula….my work is fresh……and genuine……and I refuse to be a carbon copy of every other two-bit writer out there.” She glared at him, her heart thumping and her hands on her hips.

“Well, it’s your choice Anne……either take the advice and get published, or follow your own path and end up with a cute story to read to your kids at bedtime!”.

He turned and stormed out of the room, leaving Anne shaking with rage, blinking her eyes to keep her angry tears at bay. She was so confused; he had been so receptive to her earlier draft - just two weeks ago - she hadn’t changed it that much.

She sat back down on the chair, her legs trembling and tried to calm down, taking long slow breaths and trying to count backwards from 100. This would not do her blood pressure any good. She blinked and a treacherous tear ran down her cheek.

“Shit” she muttered, annoyed with herself that she had let him get to her. She remembered her husband’s words to her.

‘Have faith in your own ability Anne’.

That’s what she needed; she needed faith that she could do this.

But most of all she needed Gilbert, and she needed to go home to get away from this ordeal.

xx

Jack stormed down the corridor. She had really pissed him off tonight. He knew he had been unnecessarily hard on her tonight because of that. Turning up looking like that with her husband in tow. He knew about Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe, or ‘Herbert Goodfellow’ as he had been called in her semiautobiographical books that she had previously had published. He knew that she had married the bloke who had known her since they were both teenagers. He had expected him to be some geeky Island type, who had gotten lucky bagging the beauty that was Anne Shirley before she knew any better, or more to the point had the chance to meet anybody better. But when he had seen the GQ model lookalike that was Dr Gilbert Blythe, chivalrously help his heavily pregnant wife out of the car and the loving look that they had exchanged between them - had made him boil with jealousy.

He had been standing by the hotels entrance waiting for her to arrive so that he could get some photographs with her on the yellow carpet. He knew how talented she was, he had been completely blown away by her manuscript. If the truth be told, at the moment he needed her more than she needed him. Unbeknownst to Anne, the publishing house had rejected his last three manuscripts that he had written and submitted on the grounds that they were too ‘formulaic and tired’. How fucking dare they!. He was close to having his contract cancelled. His agent had managed to swing this deal with Anne Shirley for him, as a last-ditch attempt to try and at least keep the publishing house happy and off his back for the next few months.

He grabbed a glass of champagne of a passing waiter’s tray and gulped it down in one go. His career was in free fall. He had arranged this whole damn party to try and raise his own social media profile, to keep his name out there. He knew that Anne’s book would be a smash hit and he wanted his name to be heavily associated with it, so he could broker himself a new deal with a new publishing house off the back of the success of it. He knew it was a shitty thing to do and that he was trying to take the glory of all of Anne’s talent and hard work for himself……but this was showbiz bitches…..it was dog eat dog out there.

That is what his plan had always been.

That was until he met her.

Jesus Christ she was beautiful. Not only beautiful, but talented, witty, intelligent and kind. Everything he loved in a woman.

Jack fell in love very easily.

He was aware of that.

He told himself it was because he was an artist and very in touch with his emotions. So, he didn’t waste time moving on when his emotions for his current partner had also moved onto a new love interest. Like most writers, he was a dreamer, and with every new relationship that he started he always dreamt that that would be the one……The one perfect person for him that he had always dreamt of…..that was until he had woken up and the dream ended. And he had usually ‘woken up’ with a different wonderful and beautiful woman in his bed.

But Anne……Anne was the epitome of the perfect woman to him.

There was only one problem…….

She was already married.

He shrugged to himself. ‘Never mind’ he thought as he swigged down another glass of champagne. That’s what divorce lawyers were for. His actions had already made one or two quite wealthy already.

Chapter Text

It had taken Gilbert a good hour to calm her down when he had eventually found her sitting at a table in a side room all on her own, her head in her hands and her leg wagging anxiously, her eyes red and her make up a mess. He had crouched down in front of her and engulfed her in a protective cocoon as she broke down and sobbed onto his rented Tux. Not a word about what had happened was exchanged, only Gilberts soothing whispers were uttered in her ear of how much he loved her and how proud of her he was. He didn’t know what had happened, but it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. He had seen Jack Garrison marching through the ballroom and grabbing a glass of champagne off the waiter, a thunderous look on his face and had immediately gone in search of his wife. Knowing that things had not gone well.

He felt like going and finding Jack Garrison and punching his goddamn face, what the hell was he thinking upsetting a heavily pregnant woman to such a degree? To hell with that, he shouldn’t be upsetting ANY woman like that…..pregnant or not!

He had quietly seethed as he helped Anne out of the car when they had gotten back to their apartment. He had known Anne long enough to know that she would tell him what had happened when she was ready, he did not want to force her to talk about it and get upset again. So, he knew to just take it slow with her, give her as much support as she needed, and when she was ready she would talk to him about it. He had taken her shoes off for her as she could barely reach her own feet herself now as her baby bump was so big (this had caused another wave of tears), and pealed the beautiful dress off her. He had then gone to hand her her robe, but she shook her head and simply said ‘Your football shirt please’ in a small voice. He smiled and rummaged around in the drawer for the old shirt and helped her slip into it, it was now quite tight around her baby bump. He passed her a wipe to remove what was left of her make up and stood behind her at her dresser and ran his hands through her hair, brushed it out and then braided it for her.

He kissed her neck and she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw his anxious hazel eyes looking at her in the mirror.

“It’s ok Gil….”

He swallowed and gently asked “Just one question Anne……he didn’t hurt you…..did he?” he murmured, struggling to keep his voice even.

“No…....he didn’t” she shook her head softly and she felt some of the tension slip out of his body.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Just to kiss the kid’s goodnight……but mainly, I just need you”. She smiled up at him and he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

He helped her up from the stool and she padded into Joy and Jem’s room. Jem had now moved into Joy’s room as the nursey was now being made ready for the new baby. Joy and Jem had both been very excited when Daddy had built them new bunk beds. Jem was on the bottom and Joy was on the top bunk. But tonight as she went into the bedroom, she could see that Joy had climbed down from her top bunk and was curled up fast asleep with her little brother. She often did this when she was upset that they had gone out for the evening. She smiled down at their little faces all relaxed in sleep, not a care in the world. She bent down and lightly kissed both of their chubby cheeks.

This was what was really important in life. Her children, her husband…..her family.

She felt his arms circle her from behind and he rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Look at them” he whispered, she could hear the pride in his voice. “We did that….we made those…..Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe”.

She couldn’t help but grin and chuckle quietly, she pulled his arms tighter around what was left of her waist.

“I am the luckiest woman alive Gil” she sighed. Her sleeping children putting everything back into perspective.

“And I, the luckiest man” he kissed her neck and she sighed, leaning back into him.

“Let’s go to bed darling……I’m exhausted.”

“Good idea……” he whispered “…..because all though they look like angels now, they will be up in……” he turned his wrist over to check his watch “…….in about five hours they are going to turn into little monkeys, bouncing on our bed”.

She turned in his arms and kissed him.

“Thank you for tonight” she said so softly he barely heard her, her eyes dropping down from his eyes to his lips and back up again. “I couldn’t have gotten through it without you…..you make me a better person Gil”.

He leant down and kissed her soundly on the lips, their kiss deepening into a loving and passionate one. One he had been hungry for since he had burst into their bedroom and seen her in that dress earlier on that evening. Her hands raked through his hair as she tried to pull him closer, the only thing between them was their unborn child.

“Take me to bed Dr Blythe” she whispered.

“As you wish Mrs Blythe” he chuckled ever so quietly, his fingers tracing over the ‘Mrs Blythe’ on the back of the old football shirt that she wore. Although she had looked stunning tonight, he couldn’t help but think she looked even more beautiful now, stood on her bare tip toes kissing him, her hair braided and his shirt on and pregnant with his child.

“I love you so much Anne” he whispered and he couldn’t stop a tear rolling down his cheek and he nuzzled into her neck.

“I love you too Gil” and she did, ever so much.

Xx

He woke up about 3 hours later to the incessant click clacking of her keyboard that he felt had become the new soundtrack to his dreams.

He rolled over and squinted at the clock, it was 3.30 am.

He groaned and sat up on his elbows “Anne come back to bed…..it’s 3 am”.

“Mmm…..in a minute” she said softly, but still continued typing away.

“You need to rest Carrots” he said flopping back in the bed and rolling over to face her. She was sitting at the dresser, with her laptop on and her phone’s torch angled at the keyboard to illuminate it. He knew he was fighting a losing battle; he could tell by the way her eyes were glued to the screen that there was no way he was going to persuade her to stop working and come back to bed.

He raised his body of the mattress and supported it on one arm “Do you want me to go all doctor on you?” he reached over to his night stand and put his glasses on.

“I know what you are doing…….and it won’t work” she mumbled, not even looking at him.

“Really?......do you know what I am thinking about right now as well then?”

That made her look over at him, he arched an eyebrow at her and glanced down at his pelvis, she couldn’t supress the smile that was emerging on her face.

She laughed “Stop will you……you are a bad man” she joked and turned her attention back to the laptop in front of her.

“Well yes there is that…...” he said lowly. “But at the moment my chief concern is that my pregnant wife gets back into bed and gets the rest that her body and our sons body needs” he said in his normal voice.

“Oh, it was him that woke me up!......Kicking away……I think he’s learning to river dance on my bladder”.

“How are you feeling now?” He said sitting up against the head board and rubbing his face tiredly.

As soon as they had climbed into bed together earlier and he had turned the light off and she had put her cold feet on him. He had heard her sigh heavily as they had cuddled in together and she had begun to tell him what had happened with Jack that evening. She didn’t tell him that Jack had rejected her manuscript because he wanted her to write intimate scenes, because she didn’t want to pressurise him into agreeing to her doing it. She knew him well enough to know that he would not want that, and if he ever agreed to her doing it, it would only be to make her happy at the expense of his own happiness. And she was not prepared to do that. She had just told him that Jack had not been happy with her quality of writing, a fact that Gilbert had disagreed with heartily, and the air had turned temporarily blue in their bedroom for a good three-minute period whilst he ranted about what a ‘prat’ (that was the politest word he had used) that Jack Garrison was.

“I’m ok……in fact if anything…..I’m more than ok. I feel more determined and energised than ever Gil…..I’m going to show him that I can do it! Without his stupid mediocre suggestions.” She looked over at him fiercely, and he couldn’t help but smile at her.

“You are one feisty vixen……do you know that?” he laughed, lolling his head side to side on the head board.

“I’m better than that Gil…..I’m a fucking survivor……if Jack Garrison wants a fight then he’s gonna get one” she turned her attention back to the keyboard and started typing away again ferociously “As far as I am concerned….its game on!.....This is war!”

Gilbert leaned back on the headboard, a small shiver that he didn’t understand swept over his skin.

Chapter Text

A few days later Gilbert came home from work particularly late, to find Anne sitting on the couch, her laptop on her knee and her phone in her hand. He had had a particularly stressful day, that had started with a senior staff meeting that had just been a complete and utter waste of his time. He hated all of the hospital politics, he just wanted to get on and do his job. The meeting had overrun which meant that he had been late for his first surgery of the day that was a routine female sterilisation procedure, which had ended up being a disaster, as the patient he was operating on started to have an adverse reaction to the anaesthetic as she had eaten breakfast and had not fasted as she had been instructed to do. She had then had lied about it when filling out her admission form, and had started to choke and gag on her own vomit during the surgery, which led to all hell breaking loose. The patient was fortunately was ok, and had made a full recovery, but Gilbert had been unable to finish the surgery there and then and had had to repeat it after hours. The day had just continued to go downhill from there. When he finally got to his car in the car park at the end of a very long day, it was to find out that somebody had scratched all down the side of it. His head was banging, his throat was sore and he just wanted to fall into bed.

After taking his shoes off and hanging his jacket up he came over to Anne and bent down and kissed her lips and then her bump, which was sticking out under her T shirt.

“How are you both?” he murmured returning his lips to his wife’s for a second kiss. ”Where are the kids?”

“We are both good thanks…….” she said stroking her bump, but kept her eyes on the phone “…… and the kids have been out all day. Suzie took them for a picnic and then to the soft play centre…..They were exhausted so they are all tucked up in bed now…..Joy was not happy with you though for being late again…..she cried for you”.

Gilbert heart sank and he sighed and rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, trying to release some of the tension in it. Anne was still sat glued to her phone and hadn’t even looked up at him as she scanned through a message and then burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny” Gilbert asked, smiling, always happy to see her laughing.

“Oh, it’s just Jack” she hooted, now holding her bump as she was laughing so hard and waving her phone in his direction.

“Oh” Gilbert said rather dejectedly, the smile dropping off his face and his heart sinking again, he was getting a bit fed up with hearing his name all the time. “Are you two friends again now then?”

“Yeah, he called around earlier, just after Suzie took the kids out and he apologised. He brought lunch over too, so we just hung out had a long lazy lunch and didn’t even talk about the book.”

So they had been together alone in the apartment all afternoon? Gilbert felt his heart begin to race.

“Oh?” he said again, trying to keep his voice light “So why did he come over then if it wasn’t about work?”

“I dunno” she shrugged “Just to be friendly……we had a nice time.”

“Oh” was all he said again, his tone flat. He didn’t know quite why but tears started to prick at the back of his eyes. He was so tired, he had been so worried about Anne getting stressed over the book, he had hardly slept over the last week. He had the major Spina Bifida surgery coming up in a couple of weeks time and the hospital was really putting the pressure on the team of surgeons involved, as it was pioneering surgery, the first of its kind in Canada. Patients normally had to travel to The States or Europe to have the difficult procedure carried out. He hadn’t discussed any of his stress over it with Anne as she was nearly at her due date and the last time they had discussed it, they had ended up having a row. He didn’t want to put any extra pressure on her.

He wandered into the kitchen hoping to find something nice to eat as he hadn’t eaten anything all day. He opened the fridge and stared unseeingly into it, his mind racing. Anne had been working like a mad thing for days getting her manuscript ready, she had been filled with an inner rage that had fuelled her work after Jacks comments at the charity ball. She had put every single ounce of her passion into her work to prove Jack wrong. It had niggled him all week and he didn’t know why. But as he stood there staring into the empty fridge, he realised why it was bothering him so much. He was jealous. He was jealous of the fire in Anne’s eyes as she tapped away at her keyboard, jealous that as it seemed to him every spare moment she had had that wasn’t taken up with the kids, seemed to be spent on getting one over on Jack Garrison.

She used to have that fire in her eyes when she looked at him he remembered, when they were back in high school.

He was being ridiculous. He knew he was.

He was just tired and hungry. He would never choose to go back to those days over what he and Anne had now. But he couldn’t help but feel concerned that she had feelings for Jack that were something other than professional.

He placed his forehead on his hand that was holding the fridge door open and closed his eyes. He took several deep breaths trying to calm down, that damn tear that had been stinging the back of his eye, finally decided to release itself and run down his cheek, just as Anne waddled in behind him.

“Don’t keep that door open, you will let all of the warm air in”.

“Ok” he sighed, swiped the tear away and shut the fridge door, but just lent back against the work surface, crossing his ankles and rubbing his closed eyes with his finger tips.

“What’s wrong?”.

“Nothing…..I’m just tired and hungry……and……” he was about to say ‘ and have missed you and the kids’, but she jumped in and said:

“You seem pissed off”.

He shrugged, feeling a bit sorry for himself.

“So you are pissed off?” Anne guessed.

“I’m literally too tired to even think about it”.

All he needed was for her to put her arms around him and run her fingers through his hair, or twirl her finger around the curl on top of his head like she seemed to like to do and it would have sufficiently relaxed him.

But she didn’t.

“What is it……tell me!” she demanded her hands on her hips. Looking annoyed with him.

“It’s nothing……” he started to walk away “…….nothing that’s any concern of yours anyway…..you are just not interested these days unless it involves Jack Garrison” he sniped at her.

He should have just left it at ‘nothing’, but he was so tired, hungry and stressed he couldn’t stop the end of the sentence falling out of his lips.

“What the fuck is that meat to mean?” she hissed.

“Shh, the kids might hear you”.

“No they won’t, they are completely exhausted……you would know that if you had been here”.

He took the bait and turned on his heel. “’If I had been here’?” he repeated incredulously. “I would have loved to have been here and spent the day with the children and you” he rubbed his throbbing head again and walked past her back into the kitchen to take some pain killers. He started rummaging around in the cupboard. “Do you know where the Tylenol is?”

She went pink “I gave the last two to Jack earlier……he had a headache coming on”.

“For fucks sake” Gilbert muttered. He looked across the kitchen to see the empty take out containers from their lunch and what looked like a very expensive bottle of red wine lying empty on the counter that Jack had obviously brought around with him.

“I’m not surprised he had a headache coming on if he drank a whole fucking bottle of wine to himself in the middle of the day…..he’s probably got gout coming on” he pointed to the food containers from a fancy uptown restaurant that they had shared together.

“What is your problem?.......I thought you would be pleased that we have made friends”.

“Well at least it only took him five days to charm you back into being his friend……he must be a much better man than me…..it took me five fucking years!”

“What is wrong with you today?” She cried, completely confused.

“My problem is……you have spent the day having lunch with another guy…..who obviously has feelings for you……alone in the apartment…….”

“’Obviously has feelings for me’? what the hell are you on?......you are starting to sound like Roy now!”

There was a long terrible silence, and the muscle in Gilberts jaw flexed, under the tension that it was under.

“I am allowed to have a friend around for lunch Gilbert. Male or female!”

He was still silent. The hurt radiating out of his eyes nearly killed her, but she strengthened her resolve and stood her ground.

“So, it will be ok for me to have Christine around for lunch then would it, whilst you and the kids are out?” he said coldly.

She blinked rapidly, her mouth hung open slightly and went instantly dry. Shocked at what he had just said.

“Christine?” was all she could say. They both stood staring at each other. Neither wanting to back down, but both devastated that that this had gotten so out of control so quickly.

“Christine Stuart is your EX GIRFRIEND Gilbert…..that is an entirely different thing…..you used to have sex with her…..” her voice waivered and her breath hitched with emotion “Jack is just a friend…..”

"Yes AND so was I….. until WE started having sex”. He burst into tears and covered his face with his hands.

“Gilbert!” She whispered horrified. She staggered backwards slightly and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. “How could you possibly say that….we LOVE each other……I am your wife…….I love you with all of my heart……you know that”.

He sank down the kitchen cupboards until he was sitting on the floor, hugging his knees and his face buried in his arms as he sobbed.

“I’m sorry Anne…..so, so sorry”.

She slid awkwardly onto the floor herself, and bum shuffled over to him and wrapped her arms around him whilst he cried. She kissed him and told him over and over again that she loved him. Her hands went in his hair and she twirled her favourite curl between her fingers, she noticed a few more grey strands in it, and she kissed it lovingly. “I’m sorry Anne” he said again, not able to even able to look up at her.

“It’s ok” she kissed the top of his head again “You are stressed aren’t you?”

He paused and then nodded, still unable to look at her. One of her arms moved from a round him and he heard her tapping something out on her phone. He was to upset though to think what she was doing.

She pulled his arms away from his knees and put her finger underneath his chin, to raise it up so that she could make eye contact with him He closed his eyes in shame.

“Gil….open your eyes……look at me”.

He shook his head and pressed his lips together in a straight line as more tears poured down his face.

She kissed his tears away. “Gil….look at me”.

He opened his eyes and he looked at her. She had never seen his hazel eyes so green, the golden highlights in them flashing beautifully. It broke her heart to see him looking so sad.

“You don’t have to carry all of this families stresses on your shoulders all on your own you know?.....I am here for you Gil……we are a partnership……I don’t want you bottling things up until it gets to the point that you explode because you cannot take it any more……..even you Gilbert Blythe are human and there is only so much even you can take……”

“I’m sorry” he squeaked again “I love you……please forgive me”.

“I do…..I forgive you……you see and that took less than 5 milliseconds” she laughed softly. “Not five minutes, not five hours, not five days OR five years……just a heartbeat, and you Gilbert Blythe are forgiven” she said kindly to him. He dropped his knees down and pulled her onto his lap, and she engulfed him in the hug that he had needed all day.

They sat there in a pile on the floor for a little while, before they heard a knock at the door. Gilbert looked up at her a bit panicked and started wiping the tears away from his cheeks.

“It’s ok, I’ll get it” she said, but struggled to get up off the floor. The person at the door knocked again. “It’s no good, you are going to have to help me up” she laughed as she squirmed around on the floor. He stood up and helped her get up, he started heading for the door, but she laced her fingers through his and led him into the living room and guided him down onto the sofa.

“I said, I will get it” and she waddled off towards the door. He heard her thanking somebody and the she returned a few minutes later with a massive pizza and a box of Tylenol. And dropped them down on the table in front of him.

“Ok first we eat and then Dr Blythe……” she opened the pizza box and handed him a slice “And then you are going to tell me all about everything that is going on in that clever, overthinking brain of yours.” She softly kissed his temple, she went to go and sit next to him but he pulled her back and kissed her “I’m sorry Anne……I love you”. His bottom lips wobbled again.

“It’s ok….just eat for now”. She went to the kitchen and came back with a large glass of water and two Tylenol in her palm.

“Thanks, who was that?”

“Fred……he picked up your favourite pizza and got the Tylenol too.” That must have been who she had texted earlier on.

“Thank you” he whispered and swallowed the pills.

They ate together quietly and after they had finished, she fetched her hairbrush from their bedroom and handed it to him and sat between his legs and as the last remnants of his headache dissolved and his shoulders relaxed as he brushed her hair out. He told her all about how he had nearly lost a patient on the operating table, how stressed he was about the spina bifida operation and how he was jealous of Jack. And he did it all whilst she sat between his legs, braiding her hair for her, his fingers busily working away on her hair as he completely unloaded all of his worries to her.

Later he fell asleep in her arms as she held him and stroked his hair, wondering where the hell his comment about Christine Stuart had come from as she stared up at the ceiling.

Chapter Text

“Happy anniversary Carrots” he said as he woke up and kissed her, her mane of red hair was all over his chest. The June sunshine shining through the gossamer curtains that hung at the window.

“Happy anniversary Mr Blythe” she sighed and lifted her chin up so that she could lightly kiss his lips. She could hear the waves softly lapping against the shore a short distance away, and the sea birds calling. She cuddled into him; she could stay like this forever. He had successfully performed the Spina Bifida operation the previous week, and all of the post op tests and observations pointed to a good outcome for baby and mother alike. It had been a complete success. Whilst other members of his team had gone out to celebrate and had gotten completely hammered, Gilbert had gone for one glass of orange juice and had the returned home to his wife and family, as if it had just been another day at the office for him. He didn’t want to do any publicity or interviews, or to go on the news. He left that to the hospital’s senior managers. He did seem 10lbs lighter and 10 years younger though the following day as he practically skipped around the apartment, but that was probably because his lovely wife had shown him just how proud of him she was the previous evening.

He turned onto his side and laced his fingers through her, looking down at her wedding ring, a soft smile on his face. he looked back up at her. “I still can’t believe it sometimes……that you are mine and that I am yours……I sometimes wake up fearing it has all been a dream…..” he kissed her wedding band, his eyes beautiful and his lashes long and dark as he looked at her through them.

She laughed softly and pinched him. “See, it’s real I am not a dream……the only thing I can’t believe is that it took me so long to realise how I really felt about you Gil…….you were right in front of me all the time”.

His hand drifted down and he stroked her baby bump. She only had a few weeks left before Baby Walter was to be born and because she was so close to her due date, they had booked the same beach side house that they had rented for their honeymoon to spend their first wedding anniversary in. This time though they were only away for the weekend and Joy and Jem were staying with Matthew and Marilla at Green Gables.

It had been a long drive for the Blythe family all the way from Toronto back to PEI with an eight months pregnant wife, who needed the toilet every five miles and a two year old daughter who was potty training, and loved the reaction her parents had when she singsonged “Daddy…….I need a poo poo” and then laughed as they dropped everything they were doing, and ran around in a panic to get her to the nearest toilet. Gilbert felt like he knew what the inside of every single rest stop for the whole entire journey between Toronto and Prince Edward Island looked like by the time they arrived. Jem was happy to be with his family and just sit in his car seat and happily sing songs to himself, and pointing out every single cow or sheep he had seen along the way. But they blasted their favourite tunes out of the car stereo and all sang along. Gilbert using his dreadful voice and making his family laugh.

It felt magical for her to be back at Green Gables with her growing family, and to see the looks of delight on Matthew and Marilla’s faces as they played with the children, was worth the agonising journey ten times over.

Whenever the expanding Blythe family visited PEI, it was always like Christmas, with huge family gatherings, Elsie and Marilla working together to produce one feast after another and Delly running around with Joy and Jem, whilst the adults tackled the seemingly endless washing up and revelled in having their families together. As far as the two families were concerned the young Blythe family could not visit often enough.

They had stayed for their first night at Green Gables, Anne and Gilbert in her childhood room (He always liked that) and Joy and Jem in a newly decorated bedroom, next to Marilla’s room. But the following morning they had bid farewell to the children, Joy still had a tantrum because Daddy was leaving her, and they had driven the 60 miles or so back to their honeymoon cottage for a romantic weekend alone to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

But unfortunately, it didn’t seem like two minutes until the young family were saying a tearful goodbye to their families again, before hitting the road on the long drive back to Toronto. Joy needing to stop for the toilet twice before they had even left the Island. Gilbert rolled his eyes as he helped her out of the car for the second time. She was making him pay for leaving her over the weekend, he knew she was, he could see it in the mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she looked up at him and grinned as she skipped across the car park holding his hand. It was her way of getting some one-on-one time with him, as Anne was too heavily pregnant to stand in the cubicle with her. He grinned back at her and picked her up so she was at his eye level.

“You. young lady are first class monkey!”

“Me no momkey……me say you momkey” she laughed as he still held her out at eye level.

“I love you Joy Blythe” he said, looking into her hazel eyes.

“Me love my Mummy” she said cheekily, little dimples in her cheek forming as she giggled.

“No……me love Mummy” he bantered with her.

“No……me love Mummy……my Mummy……silly Daddy” she shook her head at him in mock despair, just as Anne did, her little curls tied up in the cutest little bunches ever, bobbing around.

He blew a raspberry on her cheek and swung her onto his shoulders, and she squealed with glee. “Giddy up Daddy” she laughed as she flapped her legs around and held onto his hair, so he jogged across the car park towards the bathrooms again, loving every second he spent with his kids, even if it was in the rest stop bathrooms.

Xx

The morning after their return home from PEI, Anne reluctantly turned her computer on and opened up her emails. She had purposefully left it at home as she really felt like she needed a break from it. Her heart pounded a she saw her inbox was full of messages from Jack, he had even tried texting her whilst she was away with Gilbert. She had asked him to only email her, it was work after all, that really wasn’t such a strange request. After Gilbert had broken down a few weeks ago and had confessed to her that he felt some level of jealousy towards Jack, he had said himself that he knew that he was being ridiculous, so he didn’t need her to tell him that too. She had decided to make sure that her relationship with Jack was only ever strictly professional, she didn’t want to stress Gilbert out anymore than he already was, and at least now they talked about this kind of stuff, rather than quarrelling over silly misunderstandings.

She read through Jacks messages one at a time, she could feel her stress levels rising with each one she opened. She loved her book, one of the greatest passions of her life would always be her writing, but the pleasure she usually felt was gradually diminishing and was being replaced by stress. And that was mainly down to Jack. He was still pressurising her to up the intimate scenes, to make them more passionate, he challenged her to write one sample chapter with a sex scene in it and to send it to him. She had found herself when she and Gilbert were in bed together over their anniversary weekend away, almost narrating what was happening in her own head. It was starting to get to her, this was not what she wanted.

However, Mrs Anne Blythe was still Miss Anne Shirley through and through when it came to her writing, and on the night of the ball, the iron had entered her soul. And she was not going to be defeated.

And so, she wrote.

Against her better judgement she wrote one steamy chapter, knowing that she would never include it in her finished novel, that it would never see the light of day. She only wrote it as she wanted to prove to Jack Garrison that the reason she didn’t do it wasn’t because she couldn’t do it……..but because she chose not to.

They say that ‘you should write what you know’ and so she did, she wrote an intimate scene based on her experience with her husband that had occurred over the weekend.

She was so absorbed in her writing, that she didn’t notice the hours slipping away. Suzie came and went every now and again, making sure that she ate and drank, and looking after the kids so Anne could crack on.

Eventually just as Anne was finishing the chapter and was getting ready to email it to Jack, Suzie stuck her head through the door:

“Is it ok if I get off now Anne, it’s date night for me tonight” she blushed.

Anne turned in her chair, brushing her hand and sleeve over the mouse pad of her laptop.

“Yes of course, I hope you and Alex have a wonderful time……you should bring him over for tea one afternoon, I’d love to meet him”.

Suzie smiled “Maybe one day……I think you have enough going on at the moment though” she nodded to Anne’s bump.

Anne nodded, Suzie was a great help around the house and Anne felt as though she was now a good friend. “Ok, you are probably right”.

“The kids have eaten and are just watching Frozen for the millionth time”,

“Ok, I’ll be out in a moment, just lock the door on your way out please. Thanks for everything today, you are a lifesaver”.

“No probs, see you in the morning” and she was gone.

Anne turned back to her computer and the email she was sending and attached the document file to it that she had just written

‘ Dear Jack’ she started to write ‘Please find attached the chapter that you wante’

Was as far as she got before she heard a blood curdling scream from Joy in the living room. She jumped up as fast as an eight and a half month pregnant woman could, but lost her balance and had to slap her hand down onto her computer keyboard to stop herself from falling over.

“Shit!” she muttered and then heard another wail, this time from Jem “I’m coming…..stop fighting you two”.

She lumbered into the living room to find the children fighting on the floor over Joy’s Kristoff soft toy doll.

“For heaven’s sake, stop you two, or you will both have to go to bed before Daddy gets home”.

Joy immediately pulled away and sulked “But it’s my Kristoff” she wailed, pointing at Jem who now looked smug. Cuddling the doll next to his chest and sucking his thumb.

“You have to share Joy. Why don’t you have a cuddle with Jem’s Olaf and then switch in ten minutes…...I will set the timer on my phone and then you can switch back agreed?”

The children both gave each other a doubtful look, but nodded anyway. She got her phone out of her pocket to set the timer but just as she held it in her hand it buzzed with a notification.

[Gilbert]; ?

Anne frowned, perhaps he had butt texted her. She set the timer and slipped her phone back into her pocket as she went back into the bedroom to finish off sending the email to Jack.

She sat back down and looked at her screen. The email had vanished.

“That’s odd” she muttered to herself “Where the hell has that gone?”

Her phone buzzed again, and she tutted in slight annoyance.

[Gilbert]: ??

“What?” she muttered again, distracted with where the email had gone too. She clicked around and opened the ‘Sent’ email folder.

Her heart froze.

No,

Please no.

She closed her eyes and opened them again as she held her breath, hoping that what she saw in front of her would have magically disappeared when she reopened them.

But no. It was still there.

SENT 18.04 PM

FROM: [email protected]

TO; [email protected]

SUBJECT: New Chapter (Version 2.1) (File Attached)

“Fuck!”

Chapter Text

“Fuck!” she gasped her hand over her mouth. Her heart was hammering and she tried to calm herself down. Tears formed in her eyes. He wasn’t supposed to see that chapter.

She had sent him every other chapter she had worked on for his advice and support, but she never intended to send him this one.

She must have somehow sent it to her husband by accident instead of to Jack. Her hands must have touched the ‘send’ key when she fell over and steadied herself.

She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. ‘No. no, no’……this could not be happening. Her mind flitted back ten years to the way that Roy’s face had turned thunderous when he was displeased with her or when she had mentioned Gilberts name. She couldn’t bear for Gilbert to look at her like that. She got up and went into the living room and paced back and forth.

“Is it my turn yet Mummy?” Joy asked.

“No not yet darling” she mumbled quietly, her heart still racing and her head starting to throb. She ran her hands anxiously through her hair. She suddenly felt sick and rushed to the bathroom where she threw up.

“Mummy ok?” Joy’s little frightened voice said behind her. Anne turned to see her daughter standing in the bathroom doorway, little hazel eyes looking at her concerned.

“Yes……don’t worry sweetie……Mummy will be ok, I just feel a bit poorly”. She turned back to the toilet and suddenly threw up again, she held her own hair to one side as she wiped a sheen of cold sweat of her face. She felt a little hand on her back rubbing soothing circles, as Joy copied what she had seen her father doing when Mummy was sick.

“Mummy be ok” Joy said soothingly this time, and helped her to hold her hair back. Joy’s tenderness brought tears to her mother’s eyes, just as her alarm on her phone went off.

“It’s your turn now” she said weakly to Joy.

“Me look after Mama…..Mummy poorly…….Jem av it” she said hugging Anne and kissing her.

Anne sat back on her heals on hugged Joy and wept into her little yellow cardigan. “Mummy be ok” she said again, her little arms tightening around her neck.

“You are so like your Daddy” Anne laughed through her tears “I think you will be a doctor like him one day my sweet heart”.

“Daddy Momkey”.

“Yes, he is” she cried. She closed her eyes and took all of the comfort that she could off her daughter “But I love him very much” she added, reassuring her daughter in case she heard her parents arguing later. She could hear Jem singing along to ‘Let it Go’ in the living room.

She struggled to get up off the floor as the sickness had passed over, Joys kindness had helped her calm down. She went into the living room and sat down on the couch. With a trembling hand she took her phone out and dialled Gilberts number. There was no answer, it went straight to his answerphone message.

‘This is Dr Gilbert Blythe, please leave a message after the tone’.

It was the same message he had had on the phone since he had qualified as a doctor. In fact she had been sitting on his bed next to him in his old dorm room as he had recorded it, not twenty minutes after he had gotten his exam results and had officially become ‘Dr Blythe’. They had fallen about laughing as he had feigned a serious doctor voice for the first time. But now all she heard was an angry and pissed off voice.

Joy toddled back up to her with her play doctors kit, and got her little plastic stethoscope out and was checking to see if Anne’s knee had a heartbeat. Anne leaned back on the sofa and closed her eyes. It was no good, she would just have to wait for him to get home and apologise to him. Joy climbed up next to her and lifted one of her eyelids up and peered in at her, pretending to check her eyes. Jem came up and cuddled up with his Mummy, Kristoff still clutched protectively to his little body. Joy next checked Anne’s baby bump, with her stethoscope as she had seen Gilbert do a hundred times for real. He had in fact let her hear the babies heart beat through his real stethoscope.

“Yep, the baby is fine” she said imitating Gilberts voice, and she packed away the stethoscope and pretended to give Anne an injection in her hand. Joy was just pretending to check Anne’s temperature when she heard Gilberts key in the door.

Joy immediately jumped off Anne and ran to the front door shouting “Yay…..Daddy’s home”.

Anne closed her eyes again unable to look at him, she covered her face with her hands and she started to cry again. She heard him put his bag down and hang his coat up in the hallway.

“Daddy……Mummy was poorly…..she sick and Joy look after her……Mummy say me be doctor like you” she chortled happily.

“Mummy was sick?” she heard his voice say as he entered the room, but she continued to hide behind her hands, unable to look at him and see the anger and disappointment in his beautiful, trusting eyes. “Is she ok now?” he asked Joy.

“Yep” Joy said, popping the ‘p’ sound.

“Anne…..”she felt him standing in front of her.

She shook her head and she could feel the tears starting to roll down her neck. She took a shuddering breath and sobbed “I’m sorry Gil” and then absolutely sobbed her heart out. He knelt down, and gently peeled her hands away from her face, but she still refused to look at him. Her eyes screwed tightly shut and her mouth set in a downward facing hard line as she fought not to ugly sob in front of him.

“Anne…..look at me”.

She shook her head again “I can’t…..I’m too mortified”.

“Yes you can……you silly arse” he smiled at her.

She could hear that smile in his voice and her heart raced as relief flooded through her veins.

She opened one eye to see him looking at her trying to suppress a smile, but his twinkling eyes gave his merriment away.

He couldn’t help but grin at her “Sooooo…….what have you been up to today?” he asked lightly and knowingly, turning his face ever so slightly sideways and wiggling a cheeky eyebrow at her.

“Gil I’m so sorry I never intended for it to ever be published I would never do that to you to us in a million years I was just trying to show that prat that I can write like that it’s just that I choose not to he has been pressurising me for months to do it and he challenged me to write just one chapter so I did it just to shut him up I was never going to publish it please believe me and I had to write about us because you are so amazing you blow my mind like every single time and I would never write about Danny or Roy because they were both like awful and I wish I had never done it with either of them it was totally not worth it I would have been better off being celibate or being a virgin until you please believe me I know I have betrayed you but nobody else has seen it I promise you thank God really it did go to you because if it had gone out to Jack like it was supposed to I would be even more mortified…….”

“Anne……Anne” he laughed, interrupting her rant, taking hold of her hands and sitting next to her on the sofa “please stop……calm down……take a breath”. He stroked her hand with his thumb soothingly and took deep breaths with her. He could tell she was spiralling and he didn’t want her to have a panic attack.

She took a minute to get her breath back and then she looked up at him.

“I’m sorry Gil……I don’t know what I was thinking…….he challenged me to do it…….just one sexy chapter…….and you know what I am like……I cannot back down from a dare or a challenge…….the fight got the better of me Gil…….please forgive me…….I would never of published it, I know how private you are about things like that……I’m such an idiot”.

“You are most certainly not an idiot……but you are always going off so impulsively, trying to be somebody other than yourself, when you really do not need to be……..but I love you for all of that and for all of your unpredictability”. He looked at her, his chin dipped down towards his chest and a smirk on his face, but his eyes tender and loving.

“Really?......you are not mad with me”.

“I would have been upset if you had published it, but you didn’t. I trust you Anne, I know you would never do anything to hurt me”.

She threw her arms around him and hugged him hard.

“I was so worried you would be mad with me and we would have a huge row…….you are really not mad?”

He gave her a massive dazzling smile. ”No……I quite enjoyed it actually”.

She gasped, and covered her open mouth with her hand. Her eyes round and the size of Marilla’s best saucers.

“You liked it?”

“Yeah……I think maybe you could read it to me as a bedtime story tonight?.......what do you think?” he laughed as a pretty blush covered her cheeks.

“Why are you blushing…….I have done all of those things to you that you wrote about……perhaps I may have some ‘editorial’ suggestions I might like to make myself if that is ok with you Miss Shirley…..the odd ‘tweak’ here or there……I have a hole in my schedule at around 9pm” he quickly checked his watch and then looked back up at her with an eyebrow raised and his eyes smouldering.

“A hole you say?” she laughed at his euphemisms, a feeling of intense love for him washing over her, “I think I could fit you in around then…….or maybe a little earlier……if you want to come sooner”.

His eyes went dark. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he said lowly closing his eyes briefly as he said the word ‘any’ and then leaned over and kissed her frustratingly lightly.

He pulled away and smirked at her just as Joy said.

“What’s a virgin Daddy?”.

Chapter Text

Baby Walter Blythe was six months old by the time that Anne had finished writing her book, and it was with him strapped to her chest that she skidded through the Toronto General Hospital car park with a printed copy of her final draft in her hand. Anne was an old-fashioned girl at heart and loved to read a ‘proper book’ rather than an eBook, she knew she could have emailed her husband a copy, but to her there was nothing better than excitedly turning the page to find out what happened next. Swiping just did not cut the mustard for Anne and this was Anne’s final draft. Her new book!

She arrived at his office with her converse soaking wet and snowflakes resting in her red hair and on her shoulders.

“Am I good to go in?” she asked Alison after she had finished cooing at Baby Walter. Anne found it took her ages to get through the hospital as every member of staff that she passed seemed to know her as Dr Blythe’s wife and the always wanted to fuss over the baby for a few minutes.

“Yes dear” she glanced at her screen “He’s on the phone at the moment, but you can go through”.

“Ok, thanks”.

She pushed the door open to see Gilbert sitting at his desk and on the phone.

“I’ve got the results of the scan in front of me Tony and I don’t think surgery would be in the patient’s best interest at this point”.

He looked up to see Anne enter and he waved at her and rolled his eyes whilst pointing to the phone, whilst he listened to whatever his boss was saying.

“I’m not about to perform unnecessary surgery……”

He was silent again as he was interrupted and he raised his eyebrows
.
“I understand that……but as a doctor and not a manager, I will always put the needs of my patient first……not the prestige of the hospital……in my opinion it’s best to give it another two weeks and then repeat the scans and review the situation when we have more information”.

He rolled his eyes again and ran his hands through his hair. She could tell by the state of it already that he was having a stressful day.

“I think that is the right decision, I’ll contact the patient and get Alison to book her in for more tests in two weeks……bye”.

He put the phone down and flopped his head backwards on to his desk chair, both hands now running through his hair “Jesus…..that man drives me nuts sometimes”. He pushed himself away from his desk, got up and came around the side of the desk to greet his wife with a tender kiss and a big hug.

“Everything ok?” she asked him.

“Yeah……” he sighed “……. the politics of this place are more than I ever bargained for……how’s our little man?” he said shifting his attention to Walter. Anne took him out of the sling and passed him to his father, who sat down on the couch in his office and bounced him on his knee, whilst Walter gurgled happily at him.

“He was a bit cranky this morning, his lower two teeth are cutting through though, look”.

They both examined the inside of the baby’s mouth.

He turned Walter around in his arms and cradled him, his eyes moving to the document folder in Anne arms.

He smiled at her “Is that it?”

“Yes” she grinned and bobbed up and down on her tippy toes in an excited manner. “I am so excited…...I want you to read it. We are submitting it tomorrow.”

“We?”

“Yes…. Jack and I” she said slightly less enthusiastically.

Gilbert just widened his eyes slightly, but didn’t say anything. He had no idea why she thought it was a good idea to write this with Jacks name alongside hers. He put his feet up on the couch and began to read the last chapter as Anne busied herself, pulling sandwiches, cheese straws and brownies out of her back pack for his lunch. She couldn’t help but glance over to him every now and again. His feet up on the grey velvet couch, his jacket off and his sleeves rolled up, Walter held in one arm and her manuscript in the other and those damn glasses on. She watched as his eyes flew left and right, taking in her words. Every now and again he would smile or laugh out loud and each time her heart flip flopped to hear him. Eventually she heard him sniff and she turned to see him wipe a tear away as he closed the manuscript.

“Well, what do you think?” she asked anxiously, chewing her bottom lip. His opinion mattered to her more than anybody’s, more than 1,000 publishing houses.

He shook his head slowly and then beamed at her, giving her the full force of his dazzling smile “It’s the best of everything you have ever written Anne”.

“Yes!” she shrieked and jumped up in the air, both of her hands above her head. “Are you certain?” she asked, going back to chewing her lip, her emotions all over the place.

“So much so that I have no idea why you are submitting it with his name on it alongside yours”. He dropped his feet down from the couch and turned his body towards her, his son fast asleep in his arms.

She sat down next to him and rubbed her hands up and down her own thighs “I couldn’t have done it without him…….” She said seriously and Gilbert rolled his eyes at her and shook his head softly looking like he did not believe her “……..and you too….I couldn’t have done it without your support”.

“Can I put my name on it too then?” he joked and she blushed.

“What if this is the only chance I have of getting it published Gil?”

“Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Jack is submitting it tomorrow under both of our names”.

He shook his head again “Ok, I can’t stop you, I just think that you deserve a proper credit that’s all. You have worked so hard for this Anne…….and I want you to get the full credit for it”.

She kissed him lightly, and he brought Walter up to his lips and kissed the baby’s downy head.

He looked down at her sodden converse clad feet and smiled.

“Carrots…….why are you still wearing your converse in the snow?” he laughed at her knowing that she would have been so excited to rush to the hospital to show him her manuscript she would have just grabbed the nearest pair of shoes. “I love you, you loon” he laughed and pulled her towards him and kissed her.

Xx

Anne stormed out of the publishing house in a blind rage, angry tears streaking down her face, her heart hammering so much she thought she was going to have a heart attack.

“How fucking dare he!” she raged to herself, a car blaring its horn at her, the driver gesticulating wildly at her as she had just stepped out into the road in front of it. But she barely noticed and broke into a run as she crossed the rest of the road. She got her phone out to ring Gilbert but her hands were shaking so much with rage she dropped the phone in a puddle of slush, she stopped to pick it up and swiped the tears away from her face.

He had been right!

Gilbert had been right all along.

Why had she not listened to him?

“Anne!”

She heard Jack’s voice calling her, but she ran, slipping on the icy pavement in her best high heels she had worn for her submission meeting. She kicked them off, not caring where they went and ran in her stockinged feet at full pelt through the snow, passers by giving her worried looks at her odd behaviour.

“Anne, stop!” he was catching up with her, she could tell as his voice was getting closer, but she did not stop and she did not look around. She suddenly felt his hand on her elbow as he caught up with her.

“Anne, please?” he begged, pulling her around to face him. “Please stop……let me explain”.

“How could you Jack……that was all of my hard work……how could you!” she screamed at him.

One passer by stopped and watched warily, making sure this young lady with no shoes on in the snow was ok.

“I told them…..I told them that it was your work…..Anne listen to me!” he was out of breath and his cheeks pink from chasing after her. “I told them that I only had a very small role in writing the book, but they insisted on publishing it in my name Anne!......book sales are down, they have to use my name just to get it on the shelves, or in editorials…….do you think that new writers go straight to the top of The New York Times Bestseller list?......No, they do not, you know that Anne……”

“That is not what this is about and you know it……you have used me Jack!”

“I won’t let them publish it without your name on it……think of this project as a stepping stone into the next stage of your career. We publish this one under both of our names and then next time you have the credit all to yourself”.

“NO!.......Are you frickin kidding me…..that is all of my work……all of your suggestions went against everything that I stood for……I stuck to MY story, in MY words and they loved it……you were wrong Jack and I was right, and now you want the glory and attention for my story……your name in big letters on the front cover and my name buried somewhere on the second page next to the sodding ISBN number!” she wrenched her arm out of his hold and turned and marched off.

“Anne…...you are making a mistake; this is still going to be excellent for your career……. surely you can see that”.

She stopped and turned back around, and he nearly bumped straight into her.

She stuck her nose in the air and narrowed her eyes at him “The only mistake that I made was having stars in my eyes when I met you and agreed to this idiotic charade” she turned again, but he caught hold of her and ran around in front of her to face her.

“Yes, it was a charade……..I admit that…….to spend more time with you” he blinked and tried to give her his best earnest eyes “I wanted to work with you…… I admire you…..” he paused for effect and held both of her elbows with his hands. And looked deeply onto her eyes “I need you to know how I feel about you….. I’m in love with you Anne”.

Anne was almost quite literally frozen to the spot, her feet numb from the freezing cold pavement, her heart pumping wildly, her eyes a vivid green and wide with shock as Jack leaned forward and kissed her.

She felt his cold lips caress hers for a fleeting second before she wrenched herself away from him and slapped him hard across the face. she stepped back from him as his head snapped to one side from the ferocity of her smack.

“How fucking dare you!” she seethed, her stomach rolling with nausea “How fucking DARE you” she screamed at him again as he cradled his face with his hand. A small crowd of passer-by’s had now formed to stand and stare at the spectacle, and now an older man stepped towards Anne, in case she needed any help. She looked sideways at him and nodded, letting him know that she was ok and could deal with the situation.

Her head was completely scrambled, there was a buzzing in her ears and her head throbbed. Gilbert had been right about him. Just the thought of her husband’s name, made her eyes fill with tears. Jack had forced her to kiss him, how the hell was Gilbert going to react when she told him what had happened. That she had kissed another man. She stepped forward towards Jack again, a determined look on her face.

“Do not ever contact me or speak to me, I never want to see you or hear from you ever again, and you WILL hear from my lawyers if you so much as print one single solitary sentence from my story under your name…...oh and by the way this is from my fucking amazing husband” she declared and she slapped him hard against the cheek again.

She turned and marched off, her red hair whipping his chest as she went and the small audience clapping and cheering her.

Xx

The happy smile that was on Gilberts Blythe’s face disappeared as soon as he saw his wife barrel into the kitchen and straight into his arms. Her hair a mess, her make up all down her cheeks and her panty hose ripped and laddered around her filthy feet. And no shoes on. She clung tightly onto him and cried into his chest with huge shuddering sobs, her finger tips digging almost painfully into his back she held on so tightly.

“Anne.…..what the…..?” he asked panicked, putting down the bottle of milk he had been in the process of warming up for Walter, and wrapping his arms around her trembling body.

“You were right Gil…..you were right and I was so wrong……I’m so sorry” she sobbed uncontrollably.

He stroked her back soothingly, trying to calm her down, his mind racing as to what the hell had happened.

“He kissed me Gilbert…..Jack grabbed me and kissed me……I didn’t want him too, but he did it.”

She felt his body that was wrapped protectively around her freeze, his hands halting their soothing actions on her back.

“What?” he asked softly.

“He kissed me” she sobbed again “We’d had a huge row over credit for the book…..and he told me he loved me and the kissed me……I didn’t want him too”, the trembling turned into full on quaking as she lost the ability to stop herself from shaking. She still had her head buried in his chest, unable to look at him. He bent down and scooped her up bridle style and walked to the bedroom with her. The children were in the living room with Suzie, and he didn’t want them to witness their mothers intense state of distress. He sat down on the bed and positioned her in his lap. Her arms tightened around his neck.

“I’m so sorry Gil”.

“Shh, it’s ok my Anne, shh” he soothed.

“How could I have been so naïve Gil?” she squeaked.

“You are not naïve, you are just incredibly trusting, after everything you have been through…..you are amazing….I love you so much” he whispered softly in her ear.; He Knew he had to ask her his next question and he felt sick at what the answer may be.

“He didn’t hurt you did he Anne?......or touch you anywhere did he?” she heard the wobble in his voice and his legs underneath her were trembling too.

She shook her head fiercely against his chest, and a wave of relief flooded his body. “No, it happened in the middle of the street…..with a load of people watching” she squeaked.

She dared to look up at his face and all she saw was love and concern for her in his eyes.

“You should yell at me and tell me I told you so!......another man kissed me Gil……are you not mad with me?”

“Did you kiss him?”

“No”.

“Then why would I be mad with you?”.

“I’m sorry I let you down”.

“You haven’t let me down……I trust you Anne”. He looked deeply into her eyes and kissed her. It was a relief to feel his kiss. Familiar, warm and soft, as his lips touched hers, erasing the hideous print of Jack’s kiss that she felt was still on her lips, even though she had rubbed her lips almost raw in the car on the way home to try to rid herself of it.

“I love you Gilbert”.

“I know” he smiled against her lips and she couldn’t help but smile back and laugh softly as he pulled her closer and deepened their kiss. What would she do without this wonderful man in her life.

Xx

A few hours later, Suzie had gone home, the kids were in bed and Gilbert was just making a cup of tea for himself and Anne as she had just gotten out of the bath. He was just putting the milk back in the fridge when he felt his phone buzz with a notification from their ‘Avonlealot’ WhatsApp chat group.

[Diana]; Oh my frickin God! Have you guys seen this? I saw it online and now it’s going viral.

A link to a YouTube video then pinged straight through following the message.

Gilbert frowned, and slipped his phone in his back pocket of his jeans and carried the tea into the living room, he would look at it later……it was probably just a funny cat video or a video of Diana playing the public piano in Toronto’s main train station that she liked to share every now and again. He sat down and his phone suddenly started going completely mad with one notification after another.

[Tilly]; Oh my fucking God! You go girl! I am so Fucking proud of you Anne. Fuck me you are fucking feisty!

Tilly liked to say ‘fuck’ a lot.

[Charlie]; Damn you are one lucky guy Blythe, your wife has never been hotter!

Charlie used to fancy Anne.

[Ruby] I’m only surprised she didn’t kick him in the nuts…..or hit him with her new book…..Go Anne!

Ruby was just the sweetest.

[Moody] Cool!

Moody was Moody. A man of few words.

[Jane] Feisty Shirley at her finest…..I’m with Ruby……I would have kicked him in the nuts…..and then fucking broken the dickheads fucking nose.

Jane always said it as it was.

‘What the?’ Gilbert thought and put his glasses on and clicked the link entitled ‘Mystery Red Head Puts Cheating Author in His Place’ #Jackass Jack #SistersDoingItForThemselves #Vixen.

“What the?” he said out loud this time, as he watched a video of Anne kicking her shoes off and running down the Toronto Street outside her publishers. He watched as she and Jack argued about credit for the book and then he grabbed her and kissed her. Gilbert’s mouth going dry and his heart hammering as he watched his wife pull sharply away and slap him hard across the face. he couldn’t help but smile and then laugh out loud as he heard her yell ‘Oh and by the way this is from my fucking amazing husband’. He then watched as she slapped him hard against the cheek again and storm off. One of the passers-by must have been filming something and had caught their argument on camera and had the posted it under Jack Garrisons name.

He knew he had been right to trust her, he didn’t need to see a video recording to know that his wife was being honest with him, he knew her well enough to know that she would never do anything like that. But fucking hell, it was great to watch.

And that last slap?.....‘from my fucking amazing husband’.

He laughed out loud again as he tapped to ‘watch again’. After Anne had told him what had happened, he had felt the need to go out and find Jack Garrison and kick his arse……but it seemed as if he didn’t need to, His beautiful. Independent and fiery as fuck wife didn’t need him to go out and settle the scores for her, it seemed as if she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

He turned his phone off and went into the bedroom where she was sat at the dressing table, brushing her long red hair out and humming to herself. She looked up at him in the mirror and smiled at him, his eyes were dark and he was wearing those damn glasses.

“You are fucking amazing” he growled and he was across the bedroom in two strides. He picked her up and she squealed in surprise, wrapping her legs around him. He pulled the damp towel off her body with one hand, supporting her weight with the other.

“You are so fucking sexy……you turn me on so much…….you foxy vixen……my fiery beauty……I love you so much”.

He threw her on the bed, his eyes hungry for her as he stared at her as she lay there naked and laughing at him, wondering what had brought all of this on.

“I’m going to show you my amazing wife, what a ‘fucking amazing husband’ I am” he said as he jumped onto the bed with her, making her bounce up slightly.

And he did.

Xx

The next morning, Anne had been woken early by Walter and was sitting up feeding him in bed as Gilbert still slept peacefully beside her.

“Foxy vixen” he muttered in his sleep, and threw his arm across her waist as he turned to face her and she chuckled slightly, her free hand raking through his dishevelled curls as he snuggled up to her, pressing his face into her waist as she sat up in the bed. She thought about the previous evening, the way he had come storming into the bedroom and had then ravaged her, she had then fallen straight to sleep in his arms, exhausted after the emotional toll of the day. She looked to her nightstand to check her phone and then remembered it was currently in a bag of rice in the airing cupboard, drying out after she had dropped it in a slushy puddle yesterday.

She sighed and looked at the clock on his side of the bed 6.30 am. As she was looking over, his phone briefly lit up with a silent notification. She noticed as it did, that the whole screen was full of notifications. It looked like a hundred people had been texting him over night. She frowned slightly, wondering if everything was ok, she nudged him to wake him up and he started to stir just as the front door bell rang.

“Gil…...” she said concerned “Gil”. She nudged him again, Walter still feeding from her breast “Can you get the door please…..Walter is still feeding”.

“Huh?” he mumbled and then turned straight back over and went back to sleep.

“Who the hell can that be this early?” she grumbled, lying Walter down next to his father and putting her robe on as she went to answer the door.

She yanked it open, to see her editor from Toronto Today standing on the other side of the door with Tim Goode on one side of her, his camera slung over his shoulder and a woman who she didn’t know on her other side.

“Judy?” she said surprised, tightening her robe and running her fingers through her hair “Is everything ok?.......I wasn’t expecting you……was I?” she asked confused.

“I’ve been trying to ring you all night……do you never answer your phone……I thought you were supposed to be a journalist” she smiled and laughed softly.

“I don’t understand, I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you here?” she opened the door to let them in and the lady that she didn’t know set her bag down on the kitchen counter and started getting a hair dryer, curling tongues and a roll of makeup brushes out. Tim started setting his camera equipment up in the sitting room and moving the furniture around.

Judy laughed “Don’t tell me you don’t know?”

“Don’t know what?” Anne asked even more confused, her mouth going dry.

“You’ve gone viral Anne!”

“What!”

“On the street yesterday…….you slapping Jack Garrison”.

Anne’s mouth dropped open in shock, it was a good job she had put Walter down because if she had still been holding him, she would have dropped him.

Judy was taking her phone out of her pocket and holding it out to Anne, a video of her kicking her shoes off and storming down the snowy sidewalk.

“GILBERT!” she yelled, her eyes still on the screen and her hand covering her mouth as he came skidding out of the bedroom in just his pants holding Walter in his arms.

“What…..what is it?” he asked anxiously. “Shit…..Judy……hi” he blushed recognising Anne’s boss from the newspaper standing in the hallway.

“Gilbert, always a pleasure” she laughed at him as he blushed remembering he was only wearing his pants.

“Gilbert…..have you seen it…..oh my God my career is over……I’m so humiliated” she began to weep and sort his comforting arms out.

“Are you joking Anne?......you are all over the news……everybody is trying to get hold of you…..you are a modern day heroine. This video has been shared and retweeted, thousands of times and has had over five million views. Have you seen how many new followers you have on your official Instagram account…….Two million……in just a few hours?”

“What?” she whimpered. It was a good job that Gilbert was holding her up, otherwise she would have fallen over.

“Yeah” Judy laughed, getting her phone ready to record an interview with her. “Jack Garrison has already been released from his contract at Tolken…….and you, my favourite employee are the new face of the Me Too movement”.

Gilbert chuckled and kissed her temple as she stood there, her eyes bulging and her mouth gaping open.

“Well” he smiled at Judy “I think you have done it……you have officially silenced Anne Blythe” he laughed, giving her a sideways hug and grinning down at her.

“Your agent rang me as she has been trying to contact you all night……publishing houses are falling over themselves Anne to publish your book. Penguin Random House, Harper Collins and even Bloomsbury…….you’ve hit the big time Anne”.

Anne still stood there staring at her boss.

“What?” she said again.

Gilbert steered her towards the couch and sat her down. “I’ll er, get dressed and then put some coffee on……whilst you tell her what we already know……that she is an amazing writer and more than that, an amazing woman and human being to boot” he chuckled, putting Walter in his baby bouncy chair as he had nodded off.

Anne spent the morning being made over by the hair and make-up specialist whom Judy had brought over with her and then after doing an exclusive interview with Toronto Today, she rang her agent who had lined a day of meetings up for her with the world’s best publishing houses who wanted to publish her book. Her phone once it had been dried out and retrieved from the bag of rice in the airing cupboard, did not stop ringing all day, so by the time Anne staggered exhausted back into the apartment at 9pm, she turned it off and put it back into the airing cupboard. Not wanting to see it or hear it again until the following morning.

She got into the shower the hot jets of water helped to ease her throbbing headache and relax her muscles as her mind raced over the events of the day. Was this real?……had she slipped over on the icy pavement yesterday and taken a nasty bang to the head? She had a whole itinerary of appointments and interviews for the following day too, including a guest slot on Good Morning Canada at 6am the following morning to talk about her book and how she stood up for herself in the face of Jack Garrisons duplicity and unwanted sexual advances.

She got out of the shower and wrapped herself up in a big fluffy towel, the kids were at a playdate and sleepover at Diana’s. Anne and Gilbert had thought it was best for them to be away from the apartment, as a few reporters and press had been knocking on their door all day. Anne saw that there had been a few bouquets of flowers delivered to her, that Suzie must have accepted before she had left with the children. She went around the room smelling them, one from the Avonlealot group, and she chuckled at the message, and one was even from Karen Gillian, the note saying ‘You did what I should have done, Gingers Rock! All the best for your new book, Karen Gillian’. Anne gasped and sat down on the sofa, just as she heard Gilberts key in the door. He had a backpack on over his winter coat, snow on his shoulders and in his hair. and Walter in his arms, who he had just collected from Diana’s as he was too little to stay away from his mummy for too long.

“Gil……look” she squealed and held the card that was delivered with the flowers out to him. She noticed that he had a package under his arm that was not holding Walter; He kissed her and after handing the package to her, took the card and read it “Oh my God!” He chortled and looked up at her lovingly “Do you have any idea of how proud I am of you……I love you so much” he hugged her and Walter started to cry, smelling his mother’s milk and wanting to be fed. So, he passed the baby over to her. They sat and chatted in the kitchen whilst he prepared something for them to eat and she told him all about her day and the meetings she had had. They had been in constant contact all day, texting and calling after every meeting, but she elaborated on the events of her day, in a way that only Anne Shirley could, and he sat and gazed at her as she animatedly spoke.

After they had eaten, they relaxed in the living room together, her sitting at one end of the sofa with her legs and feet across his knee as she sipped on the cup of tea he had made for her.

“Oh what was that parcel you brought in with you?” she asked.

“I dunno, it was just on the doorstep……. it’s addressed to you”. He reached down and passed it to her, noting it had been sent by a same day courier.

“Oh, it wasn’t there when I came in. It must have been delivered when I was in the shower”. She put her tea down and began to unwrap it. She took the first layer of wrapping off and then paused.

“Did you send this?” she asked confused, when she saw what company the package was from.

“No” he said, shaking his head slightly.

“Look” she turned the half open package towards him so that he could see the brand on the box.

‘Louboutin’.

“Are you sure these aren’t from you?”

“No” he laughed “Although I am starting to wish I had thought of that”. It had been her precious Louboutin shoes she had cast off in the street and now had no idea where they were, lost forever she expected.

She opened the box and unwrapped a pair of high heeled black patent shoes with an orange lacquered sole, an orange sole that was almost the exact same colour as her hair.

“Gil?” she whispered awe struck as she turned them over in her hands. “look” she handed one to him and embossed in bronze lettering on the inside of the shoe were the words.

‘Vixen’ by Louboutin’.

She took out a note that was included in the shoes.

“Dear Mrs Blythe, We hope that you enjoy this complimentary pair of shoes that have been custom made for you. We are proud to be associated with strong women around the globe and have been inspired to produce a new variation of one of our best-selling lines by you. I hope that you will accept this gift with our heartfelt congratulations on your upcoming career and we would like to meet with you at your earliest convenience to discuss rolling this new ‘Vixen’ brand out to the public. We would very much like you to endorse our brand and would like to discuss with you a deal that will of course be very financially beneficial to you. We look forward to meeting with you, Andre West, on Behalf of Christian Louboutin.” She read, her hand trembling as she went on.

When she stopped, she looked up at him and he had tears streaming down his face. “My God Carrots……I’m so proud of you” he whispered.

For the second time in 18 hours Anne Blythe was rendered completely and utterly speechless.

Chapter Text

Its now April

Walter is 9 months old
Joy is 3 and a half
Jem is 2 and a half
Anne is 32
Gilbert is 32

Anne’s book ‘Diamond Sunbursts’ was an instant success and hit The New York Times Bestsellers list within two weeks of its publication. She quit her job at Toronto Today and became a full-time author, the job of her dreams. Her publishers already were asking her to plan a sequel, and she was due to fly out to Paris for a photo shoot for the Louboutin endorsement. Although she was beyond excited (Paris in spring- it just didn’t get any better than that) she found as her departure date got closer she found herself getting tenser and tenser.

“Gilbert……can you please stop doing that. It’s really annoying!”

“Walter, do not pull your sisters hair!”

“Joy…..how many times do I have to tell you to not leave your toys all over the floor!”

“I’m sorry Marilla……I’m not going to be able to make it that weekend after all”.

“Jem……stop feeding Rusty under the table……I can see you you know!”

Was all she seemed to hear herself saying all of the time.

“Gil, where the hell has my passport gone?” she could now hear herself yelling, from the bedroom at him.

Joy came into the bedroom “Why are you shouting all the time Mummy?......I like your kind voice better” she said innocently.

Anne sighed and closed her eyes trying to make herself relax. She knew why she was so irritable all the time, she was dreading leaving Gilbert and the kids for a week whilst she went to Paris. Just being separated from Gilbert when he had to travel for work was bad enough, but being away from her three young children was almost proving too much. It had been Gilbert who had persuaded her to go, to chase her dreams and that it was too big and opportunity to give up. He was right, she knew he was. But that still didn’t make it any easier.

He had constantly reassured her that he would be ok with the kids and he had Suzie and Di and Fred to help.

“I’m sorry my sweet girl……You are absolutely right……I will try harder to use my kind voice” she smiled at Joy and held her arms out to her. Joy came over and climbed onto her Mummy’s knee as Gilbert came in with Walter on his hip.

“Have you looked in the shoe boxes on top of the wardrobe, I think I saw it there recently when I was looking for something the other day” he pointed to the boxes where they kept important documents. Their apartment seemed to be getting smaller by the day, they really needed more storage or a bigger place, now that there was five of them and a cat living in what had once been Gilberts place that he had purchased when he was single. “Come on Joy, lunch is ready” he indicated for her to follow him and she jumped off Anne’s knee and followed her father into the kitchen.

Anne pulled her dressing table stool over in front of the wardrobes and stood on top of it to grab the box to try and find her passport. She lifted it down and took the lid off, it had Gilberts dusty finger prints on it where he had obviously been in it the other day. She frowned as she saw a small, unfamiliar photo album lying on the top of the documents that they kept in there. She put the box down on the bed and took it out and opened it up. Her heart skipped a beat and then dropped down into her shoes as she saw that the album was full of old photos of him and Christine together, presumably from when they had been dating. She quickly flipped through them, her heart constricting as she took in the smiling photos, Christine wrapped up in his arms, as he held her from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder with his winter hat on, his curls sticking out adorably, her hand outstretched as she took the selfie of them, snowflakes on both of their shoulders. There were also pictures of her with Mary, Bash and Delly, looking happy as they collected apples together on the Blythe farm in Avonlea. She looked like she was one of the family, and Anne felt slightly betrayed. But the worst one was of them snuggled up in bed together, he was lying naked on his side tangled up in a white sheet, his arm around her waist and gazing at her as she took the selfie. Happiness radiating from her eyes.

Anne felt tears running down her cheeks, she couldn’t help it. Seeing him happy and in love with another woman. She snapped it shut, unable to look at any more of the loving photos. She turned it over in her hands. She had never seen this before. Where had it come from? She opened it up at the first page and saw an inscription.

‘To Gil,

Happy Birthday Sexy.

Thank you for making me the happiest I have ever been.

I will love you forever,

Your Chrissy xxx’

She felt her cheeks flush hotly.

‘Gil’.

Only she called him that. It used to piss her off when they were dating that Christine used to call him that. She closed it again and held it in her hand. She looked back in the box to see her passport sitting right underneath where it had been.

Had he had the photo album out recently and been looking at the loved-up photos?

“Gilbert?” she called, softer this time, although both her heart and mind were racing at a million miles an hour.

“Yeah” she heard him respond from the kitchen.

“Can you come here a minute please?”

“Hang on……I’m feeding Walter…..But…..oh hang on”.

He appeared a few seconds later, a tea towel in his hands as he wiped tomato sauce off his cheek. “What’s up buttercup?” he said jovially, a smile on his face that melted away when he saw how cross she looked, holding an old photo album in her hand.

“What’s this?” she asked, holding it out to him. It looked vaguely familiar, but he could not remember where from.

“Er I dunno” he took it from her and as he opened it the memory of it came flooding back. “Where the heck did this come from?” he said snapping it quickly shut, not wanting to look at it.

“In there” She pointed at the shoe box.

“Really?” he frowned looking confused “It wasn’t in there when I was looking in there the other day”. But he blushed and Anne’s heart froze again. Was he lying to her?

“So, it just magically appeared there, right on top of the box all on its own, did it?”

“I don’t know……I can’t explain it”.

“Can’t? or Won’t?”.

“What is that supposed to mean?”.

“You must have been looking at it” she hissed, getting upset.

“I honestly have not seen this for years……In fact I thought Christine had it”.

“You must have brought it here with you, when you moved to Toronto……over a thousand miles!”.

“What can I say……I honestly don’t remember it Carrots”.

“Don’t you ‘Carrots’ me…….’Gil’!” She took the album out of his hand and opened it, pointing out the inscription.

He frowned again “I don’t remember that in there either”.

She just scowled at him and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

He could tell she was upset about it “Look Anne, I haven’t seen it or looked at it for years…..I had no idea I still had it……I can’t explain why it was on the top of the box…….maybe it was lurking unbeknownst to me at the bottom of the box and when I was in there the other day I must have disturbed it and inadvertently put it to the top of the pile”.

He could tell that she didn’t believe him “Look it’s fine if you want to look at them to reminisce……Just be honest about it…….you will only make it worse by lying”

It most definitely was not ‘fine’ and they both knew it.

He looked hurt “I am not lying Anne!”

“I’m sorry but I do not believe you?”

He put his hands on his hips “What?” he asked incredulously in a high-pitched voice, but her eyes were clouded. The way she was stood there with her eyes cold and her arms crossed, face set as hard as stone, reminded him unpleasantly of all the times she had accused him of being a ‘man whore’ or something equally as unpleasant when they were in high school together. “How can you say that?........is that what you really think of me……. that I would even want to look at those photographs…….and then lie about it?........why are you still always assuming the worst of me Anne?........have I not proved myself to you yet?”

She blushed, but did not acquiesce.

Without saying a word, he took the album out of her hand and went into the kitchen and threw it in the trash and turned back to feeding his children.

Xx

Gilbert sat at the kitchen table feeding Walter. He outwardly looked calm, but inwardly his mind was racing.

It had been just over a year since he had bumped into Ron at work and gone out to Alo’s with him which had led to him renewing his ’friendship’ with Christine. At the time she had asked if she could text him and he had reluctantly agreed. She had texted him a few times over the year and he had bumped into her once or twice at the hospital. On one occasion, she had turned up with a basket full of lunch over her arm for him at his office, just as she used to do when they were dating. She claimed she had come to meet Ron for lunch, but he was unavailable and in surgery and so she wondered if he was available instead. He was quite glad that he had had the meeting with the team from UCLH that day and was having to dash off himself. He had told her that she was welcome to sit in his office and eat if she wished too, so he had gratefully left her too it. It was only later that day when he returned to his office, that Alison gave him the pink cashmere cardigan and told him that Anne had found it in his office and handed it in to her.

He could remember going back into his office and cursing under his breath, it was fucking typical, trust Christine to leave something in his office and then for Anne to come along and find it. He knew he should tell Anne about Christine……. but she had been pregnant and really stressed all the time. the last thing he wanted to do was make her even more stressed, her blood pressure was already at borderline concern level.

Besides, it was a none thing anyway. Hell would freeze over before anything would ever make his head turn away from Anne. He didn’t want to be friends with Christine, he was just too polite to tell her so. He never initiated any contact with her, but he did reply to her if she texted him, but only out of politeness, and it’s not like it was a constant occurrence. it was only an occasional thing. She had sent him a friend request on Instagram, but he had ignored it, not wanting to take their ‘friendship’ even to that level.

He had seen Ron quite regularly, they often shared their lunch breaks together at work, but they never did anything outside of work apart from that one time Ron turned up unannounced and stayed for a coffee, fortunately Anne and the kids had been out with Suzie. He had bumped into Christine on only two other occasions after she had brought lunch to his office. She had joined him and Ron for lunch on Ron’s birthday, bringing a cake with her to the hospital canteen. Gilbert tried to excuse himself as quickly as he possibly could without looking rude, but she had insisted that he have some cake. She had told him on that occasion that she had started dating one of her brother’s doctor friends, a cardiologist called Joe, and Gilbert felt himself relax, hoping that she really had moved on. The second occasion was only a few weeks ago, where he had found her in the staff car park, standing by her car that had a flat tire. She had looked so relieved to see him, that he couldn’t help but change the tire for her when she had asked him. She had then texted him, asking to meet him to buy him a coffee to say thank you for his help. He had not replied to that message and deleted it from his phone.

Gilbert hadn’t told Anne about any of these interactions. He just wanted to keep that area of separation between Christine and his personal life. He knew deep down that he wanted to keep the Stuarts away from Anne and his family, those two parts of his life would just not mix. He didn’t quite understand it, It was just instinctual. He sometimes questioned himself internally why he was keeping them apart. He knew the answer, he knew it would upset Anne and cause trouble within his marriage if she found out that he was friends with Christine again. He should have just told her straightaway, the night that he had first seen her again at Alo’s…….but he hadn’t…… and now as much as he wanted to deny it to himself, it had become a ‘thing’, something that he was hiding from his wife and he hated it.

He put Walter’s bowl down on the table and put his head in his hands. He should just tell her now. He genuinely had no idea where that photo album had come from……...he hadn’t seen it for years and he certainly hadn’t had it out and been looking at it recently…….it really irritated him though that she still doubted him……that she always thought the worst of him when it came to other women. He shook his head to himself and carried on feeding Walter, he could hear her slamming around in the bedroom still, packing her bags to go to Paris. He was due to drop her at the airport in a couple of hours, the last thing he wanted was to have a huge row with her, just before she went away for the week.

A few minutes later, she rolled her packed case out of the bedroom and left it by the front door and then came into the kitchen and sat at the table and looked at him warily.

He smiled tentatively at her. After knowing and loving Anne Shirley for 18 years, he knew how to handle her when she was like this. You had to approach her like she was a frightened deer, carefully, slowly, without any sudden movements to startle her.

He reached out across the table and squeezed her hand; she probably just needed a bit of reassurance. He remembered Fred telling him years ago that his partners would always feel some level of insecurity because quote ‘he looked like ‘that’ and was a charming bastard’.

“Anne I promise you I have no idea where it came from and I promise you I have not been looking at it…….I love you and only you…….ok?” he said softly, looking her straight in the eyes.

Her face softened and she gave him a little smile “Ok” was all she said.

He scooped some more pasta on to a spoon for Walter and offered it to his son. Walter turned his face away, indicating that he had had enough and waved his arm at the offending spoon, knocking it out of Gilberts hand and sending the pasta all over his T shirt and jeans. He looked down as Anne laughed at him.

“Ok I get the hint!” Gilbert laughed at Walter, who was now grinning at him. Gilbert stood up and wiped the pasta off his jeans and then poured the rest of Walters pasta in tomato sauce into the bin. Anne noticed the red sauce soaking into the photo album that was at the top of the bin. Her spirits lifted as she looked at him cleaning his son up, not giving a damn that he had just ruined the album in the bin.

Chapter Text

“Morning Suzie” Gilbert yawned as she let herself into the apartment. He was sitting at the table feeding Walter, whilst Jem and Joy were watching TV in the living room. “Oh, I hardly recognised you…..you look great…..” He stood up and walked towards the sink.

Suzie ran her hand over her recently chopped hair. Her previously long dark hair had been cut into a neat bob and she anxiously tucked a short strand of it behind her ear.

“Er thanks Dr Blythe” she muttered, not looking very happy.

“You ok……..you haven’t broken up with Alex have you?” he asked concerned. He knew women often went for a new look when they had broken up with a boyfriend.

“What?” she looked up at him with anxious eyes.

“You ok?” he checked again.

“Yeah…..sorry, Just a bit tired……and er no, I haven’t split up with Alex”. She busied herself getting some craft supplies out of her bag and tucking her hair behind her ear again.

Gilbert heard the cat flap click and Rusty strutted in, he walked under the table looking for any scraps that the children had dropped on the floor. He sniffed around and then sniffed Suzie’s socks as she stood by the table. She bent down to stroke the cat and he suddenly hissed at her, his ears back and his teeth bared, she withdrew her hand quickly and stepped back.

“Rust!” Gilbert said, surprised at the cat’s aggression towards Suzie. He hissed again and Gilbert shooed him away.

“Sorry Suze…….it’s probably the hair cut……I don’t think he recognises you” he laughed awkwardly.

“Don’t worry about it……I’ll win him over with some tuna later” she laughed “You get off to work, I’ll take over here”.

“Ok thanks, have a great day……. any problems just call, I have surgery this morning until around 11.30” he said checking his phone “So any problems before then, just leave a message with Alison, and I’ll call you straight back”.

“Ok, will do” she said setting the paints out. He went into the living room to kiss his children goodbye, Joy started to cry as she always did, so he hastily left.

He tried to ring Anne from the car, just to say ‘Good morning’ to her. It was about lunch time for her in Paris and he hoped to catch her on a break. He missed her like crazy and what with the six-hour time difference and both of their busy schedules, they were finding it almost impossible to find a mutual time to talk or facetime. She seemed to speak more to the children via Suzie throughout the day than she did to him. By the time she was finishing for the day he was in surgery or in clinic, and by the time he was free she was either out being wined and dined by the Louboutin executives, or doing interviews to promote her book or exhausted in bed. He couldn’t wait for her to come home and although he had their children around, by the time they were all tucked up in bed for the evening, it left him wandering around the apartment on his own twiddling his thumbs. It was a stark reminder of how his life would have been had he not gotten together with her. He felt lonely without her. He settled on leaving her a voice message where he sang ‘I just called to say I love you’ to her in his proper singing voice that he only saved for special occasions. He knew that would make her smile and would let her know how much he was missing her.

By lunch time he had performed one c section and two laparoscopies, and as he scrubbed himself clean and changed out of his scrubs and back into his suit, his stomach began to rumble. He rolled his eyes and cursed to himself when he realised, he hadn’t remembered to bring himself any lunch again. He hated the hospital canteen food, and he didn’t think he would have time to go and get any take out, he remembered he needed to go shopping on the way home from work as well. He slipped his jacket on and made his way back to his office, checking his phone for any messages from Anne. He could see that she had tried to call him back an hour ago and had sent a message telling him that she had loved his voice message and couldn’t wait to get home. He was smiling softly to himself as he scrolled through a few photographs she had sent him and pushed the door open to his office area.

“Dr Blythe” he heard Alison say as soon as she saw him, he noted a tense tone in her voice and so he looked up immediately to see Alison standing behind her desk looking awkward, and Christine Stuart sitting on a soft chair next to where his secretary was standing. She had a food carrier by her feet and was smiling pleasantly at him.

Alison shot her a dark look. Obviously not pleased to see her here again.

“Oh, Christine……. what are you doing here?” he asked, trying to not sound rude.

“I wondered if you were interested in a second-hand lunch again?” she laughed. “I think I must be Toronto’s most stood up lunch guest”.

“Oh, Ron again?” Gilbert asked, as Alison passed him a small pile of correspondence that had been delivered in the post. She gave him a stern and knowing look.

“No, Joe this time……. people will keep having heart attacks” she joked lightly, rolling her eyes and shaking her head, making her high ponytail, swish around her bare shoulders. “So, what do you think? Have you got time for lonely old little me?” she asked sweetly, she must have seen the wary look on his face. “I’m not going to eat you Gilbert don’t worry” she laughed.

“Er” was all he said unable to think up an excuse quickly enough.

“Dr Blythe has an appointment in half an hour” Alison piped up, trying to help him out.

“Well, you must have time to eat Gilbert……Anne will not want you to starve now, would she?”

“Er” he said again.

“Oh come on silly…….I owe you for changing my tire…….let me at least feed you so I don’t feel indebted to you any more”.

His stomach rumbled loudly; he hadn’t eaten since yesterday lunch time.

“Ok…..I guess” he held his arm out to gesture for her to go into his office.

She grinned and went straight in. Gilbert turned to look at Alison and she rolled her eyes at him and sat back down at her desk.

By the time Gilbert had closed the door and turned back to her, she was unloading a gourmet feast onto his desk “Won’t Joe be upset that you are sharing his lunch with me?” he asked her, not really knowing what else to say.

“No” she laughed “I’ve told him all about it and he understands……. he’s great like that” she said almost dreamily. “He knows what I did to you and Andrew, I have been completely open and honest with him Gil……no more lies from me”.

He decided to let the ‘Gil’ slip this time. he felt petty correcting her. She sat down on the sofa and patted the spot next to her for him to come and join her. But he wisely just took the seat that was opposite his desk.

“Help yourself” she gestured towards the food on his desk. He took a piece of French baguette and a piece of cheese. He noted it was his favourite brand of French brie. The irony was not lost on him.

She took a flask of tea out of her bag and poured him a cup and passed it too him smiling. “So, how have you been?”

“Good thanks…….”

“And Anne?” she interrupted.

“She’s actually in Paris at the moment……endorsing a new line of Louboutin’s” he couldn’t help but laugh, he was so proud of her. Thinking about her made him smile and relax. “That is a sentence I never thought I would hear myself say” he chuckled.

“I see her book is doing amazingly well……I must confess, I bought a copy and read it……. she’s very talented. You must be so proud of her”.

“I am” he said fiddling with a piece of bread in his hand and then took a bite.

Alison knocked on the door and opened it, she came in and placed a random book on his desk “Here is the book you asked for yesterday” she smiled politely and left the room, leaving the door wide open after she had left. Gilbert breathed a silent sigh of gratitude for his secretary. He should have thought of that himself. He was just always used to closing his office door after himself to protect patient’s privacy.

He chatted lightly with Christine for about ten minutes about this and that, there were a few ‘do you remember’ conversations and they had a few laughs remembering old times.

He was just wiping his mouth from the chocolate brownie he had eaten when his phone began to ring with a FaceTime call from Anne. He nearly jumped out of his skin and spilt the last of his tea on his trousers.

‘Shit’ Anne was ringing, and Christine was in his office! He considered not answering it, but he was desperate to see her and didn’t want to miss her call.

“Sorry……I really need to get this” he said and quickly swiped to answer the call. He hoped that Christine would take the hint and just leave, but she didn’t, she sat there and watched him blush as he answered his phone.

“Hi there Handsome……How are you doing?” Anne said sweetly from thousands of miles away.

“Hi Carrots” he said a soft and loving look sweeping over his face as he grinned at his wife.

“I loved the message you left……you old romantic” she giggled “I wish you were here Gil…..I’m really missing you……"

“I’m missing you too” he said, almost forgetting that there was somebody else in the room with him.

“Here I am in the most romantic city in the world and I am not with my lover……I’m thinking about you all the time……” she cooed to him. “Are you in your office……is the door locked?” she asked seductively. It was not unheard of for them to have phone sex when they had to endure prolonged periods of separation before.

‘Shit’ where was this going? His eyes flicked up to Christine and she stood up quickly and started noisily putting the lunch things back into her bag.

Anne had obviously noticed his eyes flick up to somebody in the room, and then she heard noises in the back ground.

“Oh gosh, is there somebody else there Gil?” she asked slightly alarmed.

“Er yeah……. It’s just Ron though” he forced a chuckle, his cheeks bright red and his heart hammering at the lie he had just told his wife. “He’s going now though”.

Christine waved cheerily to him and mouthed ‘Bye’ to him before leaving his office and closing the door behind her.

“Shit that was close” Anne laughed and covered her face with her hands, I was just about to take my bra off” she guffawed.

Gilbert forced another laugh. “I’ve got a banging head anyway Carrots……” was his only excuse to get out of having a saucy phone call with his wife, not remotely in the mood after having lunch with Christine. ‘What the fuck was I thinking’ Gilbert inwardly chastised himself. This ‘thing’ with Christine Stuart – as he had come to think of it as, he couldn’t even call it a ‘friendship’ it was just a ‘thing’ - was getting out of control, one stupid lie after another. It stopped now as far as he was concerned.

That was it.

End of!

He pushed it to the back of his mind, he would deal with it later, he just wanted to enjoy talking to Anne at the moment, that was all that was important.

Xx

A few days later he was standing at the arrivals gate of Toronto International Airport, a bunch of Lilies of the Valley in his hands and straining his neck to try and catch a glimpse of her as she came through the doors, he saw a flash of red and heard a small squealing noise as she ran towards him and jumped into his open arms, wrapping her legs around him and burying her face in his neck.

“Oh my God, I have missed you” she cried into his collar, her converse clad feet, crossed behind his back and his hands around her bottom supporting her weight. She pulled her face back and cupped his face with both of her hands and gave him a searing kiss. It didn’t matter that they were both now in their 30’s, it didn’t matter that people were staring at them, it didn’t matter that Anne was now moderately famous in Toronto and passers-by were filming their reunion. All that mattered was that she was back in his arms and they loved each other.

He chuckled against her kiss, unable to stop a grin spreading across his face. This reminded him of the time he had come to Toronto to stay with her when he had his job interview at the hospital…..She had run into his arms that day, just as she had now. That had been the night that he had accidentally kissed her. ‘The most romantic and erotic moment of her life’ she had later called it. The thought of that comment, stopped his smiling and made him turn the heat of his kiss up, as he was suddenly starving for her.

“Je t’aime Carottes” he whispered in a heavy French accent. Anne could not speak French, but she understood that.

“I love you too Gil” she raked her hands through his hair, and responded to his deepening of the kiss.

“Je t’aime et je te veux” he murmured “Je vous veux tous pour moi”.

“I don’t know what you are saying to me, but it’s so fucking sexy” she whispered in his ear, still in his arms.

“I love you and I want you……I want you all to myself”.

She responded by kissing him again, tightening her legs around his waist, he stifled a small moan.

“Envie d’un voyage à mon bureau sur le chemin du retour”.

“What? In English please”

“I’m trying to be romantic”.

“Well, you could be saying that my ass is fat and my chin is hairy for all I know……just say it you fucking tease” she kissed him again.

“Ok then…….You wanna go fuck in my office on the way home?” he said brazenly, looking her right in the eye, and raising a perfect eyebrow slowly at her.

“Oui, S’il vous plaît” was all she said before sliding out of his arms and grabbing his hand as he bent to pick her suitcase up and dragging him off towards the car park.

xx

Anne had had a wonderful but exhausting week in Paris. She had been back-to-back booked with one meeting or interview after another. So, after hers and Gilberts little ‘detour’ to his office, it was good to be home.

Di and Fred had come over to look after the three Blythe children whilst Gilbert had collected Anne from the airport. So, her arrival back had turned into a mini party of sorts. The children had been delighted that she was back, and she had sat on the sofa in a happy little heap with all three of them sitting on her for an hour or so before it was time for them to go to bed. She relished putting them to bed, each one of them cuddling a new stuffed animal that Anne had purchased for them on the Champs Elysees.

She was half dead by the time she pulled back the covers to gratefully climb into her own bed with her husband. As she did so, she noticed a long dark hair on the pillow. She frowned and picked it up and dropped it in the trash bin next to the dresser. It must be one of Di’s, knowing her she had probably changed the bedding and cleaned the apartment for them before she got home. She didn’t know what she would do without her bosom pal always being there, she was always such a wonderful friend and such an immense source of support whenever she needed it. Di and Fred had been talking for the last few months about wanting to return to PEI to live there. Fred was a teacher and had recently applied for a job at Avonlea High, he had told them this evening that he had been offered an interview over there next week, and Anne was sure that he would get the job, meaning that they would soon be moving away.

She climbed into bed as Gilbert wandered into the bedroom taking his watch off and putting it by the side of the bed to charge. She sometimes forgot that this had started off as just Gilberts apartment, he had of course put her name on the deed when they got engaged as he wanted her to feel it was as much hers as it was his. They had so many happy memories in this place. It was here where she brought Joy home from the hospital after she was born and it was here in the living room where she had eventually confessed her love for him whilst she danced with him. They had made love together for the first time knowing that they both loved each other in this very room, in this very bed. She remembered how special that experience was, to truly make love to a man whom she totally loved and felt completely safe with for the first time, their souls connecting like nothing she had ever experienced before, as they kissed and made love together. God, she loved him and she had missed him so much.

She knew that they were rapidly outgrowing this apartment. Jem and Joy were sharing a room and although they loved it, ultimately, they would have to move as they needed more space. Both her and Gil loved the great outdoors and although they had a small garden, she had always dreamt of a garden of her own, with trees and perhaps a pond. Di and Fred talking about moving back to the Island had made her yearn for that life herself. Financially they were in a good position, Gilbert had had one promotion after another at work and he earned an amazing salary, more than enough to keep them both in a good standard of living without her having to work. That had been a great comfort to her as she had been on maternity leave such a lot lately. Her latest book was doing extremely well and she had also had a large pay deal with Louboutin for her endorsement of their new ‘Vixen’ range. They never really talked about money as it had never an issue for them. She knew that Gilbert always saved a large percentage of his salary every month, he had been raised by a farmer, and he knew how important it was to put money away for a rainy day or hard times.

“I know what you are thinking” he said as he climbed into bed with her, she put her cold feet on his warm legs and he pulled her in to him as close as he could. He had missed her so much. He closed his eyes and sighed as he nudged her nose playfully with his and stole a quick kiss from her.

“So, you have started reading minds whilst I have been away then have you?”

“Only yours Mrs Blythe”.

“Ok, what was I thinking then?” she laughed.

“Apart from thinking what a sex god your husband is……” she rolled her eyes at him. “You were thinking……..” he paused for effect and gazed into her eyes. God his eyes were beautiful, she could remember every golden and green fleck in them “………about Di and Fred moving back home” he finished and smiled softly at her as tears welled up in her eyes.

She nodded and tried not to shed any more tears. “I know it won’t happen yet, but I do want to move back to the Island at some point……I want to raise our family by the sea, to be back in nature, and to be close to both of our families. That place is in both of our souls Gil……I can’t go my whole lifetime without living there again”.

“I know I feel the same……. ultimately that’s where I want to be too Carrots……. but I can’t leave Toronto yet……the hospital has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars training me with the specialist embryonic surgical skills……I can’t be released from my contract for a couple of years yet.”

She stroked his anxious looking face; he hated it that his job was preventing her from being happy.

“Now I know what you are thinking” she smiled up at him. “You are not preventing my happiness Gil, I love our life in Toronto, but one day……whenever that may be, at some point in the future, I want to go back”.

“I promise you Anne, we will go back”.

She smiled and kissed him “I missed you and the kids so much”.

“We missed you too”.

He kissed her lovingly…..”Speaking of my career……I have something to tell you”.

“Oh?”, she said half asleep.

“Yeah……you had better get yourself a new dress”.

“Hhm?” she sounded a bit more interested now.

He grinned at her.

“I was called into Tony’s office whilst you were away”.

“Is everything alright?” she looked up at him slightly concerned.

“More than in fact”.

“Oh for heavens sake just tell me Gil…..you are such a flaming tease”.

“Ok…..you’ll never guess”.

“Gilbert!”

“Ok……..I have been nominated for a little award.”

“What?” her face lit up.

“I’ve been nominated for a little award”.

“That’s amazing!” She grabbed his face with both of her hands and kissed him “Is it a hospital one…..like employee of the month or something”.

He chuckled. “No……it’s a bit bigger than that”.

“Tell me!”

He blushed charmingly and said softly “I have been nominated for……a CMA award……in particular, The Canadian Physician of the year.”

Anne gasped, her eyes wide and both of her hands covered her mouth, a tear slipped down her cheek.

“Gil……I am so proud of you……. I’ve heard of it of course, but what is it for?”

“The physician of the year award is given to the doctor who consistently achieves high standards in the practice of medicine…….and is looked upon as a role model by his or her peers……. it’s because of the pioneering Spina Bifida surgery I have been performing”.

Anne jumped out of bed, momentarily startling him. “My God……I am so utterly proud of you Gil”.

He laughed as she danced around the bedroom in excitement. “I haven’t won it yet Anne…..it’s just a nomination……in fact I probably won’t win it, this is my first nomination. Nobody wins it on their first nomination, there are a lot of other amazing doctors nominated in the same category”.

“Stop putting yourself down…..wasn’t it you who told me to have faith in my own abilities……well now I say it to you, you amazing human being……thank goodness you didn’t listen to me. How many times have performed that surgery now?”

“Twelve”.

“That’s twelve children’s life’s you have completely changed Gil…….” She launched herself back onto the bed making him laugh and bounce into the air slightly. She swung her leg over his waist and straddled him. Leaning forward she grabbed both of his cheeks in her hands and squished them together gently, making his lips pucker up. She looked him directly in his eyes and although hers were glittering with happiness, she looked at him seriously “You are the most wonderful man alive and I am so lucky to have you……I love you Gilbert Blythe.”

Chapter Text

Anne looked at herself sideways in the mirror and huffed, it was Walter’s 1st birthday and it was a scorching afternoon. She had been sweltering in her long jeans and t shirt all day getting ready for the party, but their guests were due to arrive soon and it was time for her to put her best summer dress on, the cream one with the rosebuds on, the one that she had worn the night in Antigua, when they had had their terrible argument. She breathed in and tried to hoik the side zipper up, these things were difficult to do at the best of times, but the extra pounds she was still carrying after Walter’s birth were making it significantly harder. She turned face on to the mirror and her shoulders slouched as she looked at her own reflection in the mirror. She looked and felt like a sack of potatoes, with her breasts bulging over the top of the dress and was pulling tight across her bottom.

Gilbert suddenly burst into the bedroom looking effortlessly gorgeous as he always did, wearing a short sleeved white linen shirt and navy shorts, his skin tanned and his chocolate hair streaked with natural caramel highlights. He barely even glanced at her as he grabbed his phone that he had left on his nightstand. “Hurry up Carrots, Marilia was asking where you were” was all he said before he left the room again. He always used to stop and admire her whenever he came into the bedroom and she was getting ready, usually putting his arms around her waist and kissing her neck, but he seemed to have been very distracted over the last few weeks, since she had gotten back from Paris really.

She tried to pull the dress down lower over her bottom, but that only exposed more of her breasts and then tried to pull it up to cover her cleavage, which them made it alarmingly short over her bottom again. “Oh, for fucks sake” she mumbled before wriggling around trying to get the dress off. She should burn the damn thing; it always reminded her of that terrible night every time she wore it anyway. She peeled it off and threw it in a heap on the floor. She looked at herself again in the mirror and squeezed the small amount of excess weight around her abdomen that was currently preventing her from feeling good about herself.

She knew she was feeling rather low at the moment, Di and Fred had moved back to PEI the weekend beforehand, and she was already missing them terribly. Gilbert seemed to be increasingly stuck at work. He didn’t work shifts anymore, but his work load seemed to be escalating at a phenomenal rate, meaning that he was often required to stay later and later at work. The other night he had not gotten home until after 11.30. She knew that he was incredibly frustrated at work, as the higher up he got in the hospital hierarchy, the more he was involved with hospital politics, red tape and endless useless meetings, which were just a waste of his precious time as far as he was concerned, when he could be treating patients.

She bent down and picked the rosebud dress up off the floor and held it over the waste bin in their bedroom, and paused, looking at it before she eventually threw it in with a huff, it just brought back unhappy memories, she was better off getting rid of it. She turned and rummaged through her wardrobe until she found a floaty little sundress she could wear just with a pair of Converse.

She was just finishing braiding her hair when she heard the doorbell sound. She could hear Josie Pye- Sloane’s laugh and so knew the first of their guests had begun to arrive. Gilbert was always like a child himself whenever it came to one of his children’s birthday’s, organising everybody to play the party games he had prepared, like pin tail on the donkey, pass the parcel, musical bumps, all of the games he had enjoyed when he was a child himself. He had arranged all of the party platters and food and as usual Anne’s only job was to make the cake.

Anne was in the kitchen just putting the final touches to Walter’s cake, when she remembered, she had forgotten to get him a candle. She laughed and shook her head at herself, remembering how she had forgotten to do the same thing on Joy’s and Jem’s first birthday.

“Gilbert!” she yelled. “I have forgotten…….” She started to call to her husband who was in the living room, pouring drinks for their guests.

“There’s some in my work bag” he called back to her, knowing what she was going to tell him – that she had forgotten to get the candle – before she could even finish what she was saying.

She chuckled to herself; he knew her so well. If she didn’t love him so much it would annoy her.

She walked into the hall and found his work bag underneath a heap of bags and shoes left there by their guests. She started to search around in it when she saw a folded up pink piece of A4 paper.

She pulled it out and opened it up. Her breath hitched in her throat and she felt like her heart had skipped a beat. It was a flyer that looked as if it had been pulled down from a notice board, the top corner missing. The flyer was an advert for the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra.

‘A special evening ‘A Night At The Movies”. Classical orchestrations of the scores from blockbuster films such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and many more, featuring Christine Dawson’.

Anne, stood gaping at the flyer. It had a picture on it of the woman whom she knew as Christine Stuart, smiling beautifully, dressed in a long white gown sitting at the stool of a white grand piano. Her beautiful shiny hair curled and piled up on top of her head, her lips painted ruby red and her deep blue eyes sparkling at the camera. She was surrounded by hundreds of white roses. The photograph was exquisite, she looked totally stunning.

Anne’s heart pounded.

Christine was working in Toronto?

Christine was living in Toronto?

Why was the flyer in Gilberts work bag?

“Anne?” she heard him call from the living room, making her jump as if she was doing something wrong. She quickly stuffed the flyer back into his bag.

“Yeah…….Coming” she shouted in a voice that didn’t sound like hers. She quickly gabbed the candles and wiped the tears away from her face.

She had noted the date of the concert. It had been on the day that he been supposedly working and didn’t get home until really late.

Had he been to watch Christine perform without telling her?

She walked back to the kitchen in a daze and stuck one blue candle in the now traditional bunny shaped, first birthday cake. She lit it with a shaking hand, and walked into the living room as everybody sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to a delighted Walter. She felt a tear roll down her cheek again as her baby blew his first candle out. Gilbert was too busy restraining Joy from taking her chances and blowing her baby brothers candle out, to notice that his wife was crying.

“You ok?” Suzie said softly, placing a reassuring hand on Anne’s arm. Her eyes looking pained for the woman who had now become a good friend as well as her employer.

“Yeah……just happy tears……sort of” Anne lied “They grow up to quickly” she forced a laugh.

Suzie pulled her into a sideways hug “Grown up?......” she laughed as Walter stuffed a slice of cake into his mouth, frosting oozing between his fingers and up his nose. “He’s one Anne, he’s hardly packing the car up to go off to college now, is he?” she smiled warmly at her “I think you have a good while yet until you need to worry about them ‘growing up’” she pointed to Gilbert who was dancing with Joy standing on his feet and singing 'Just the Way You Are' to her in his terrible voice as they waltzed around the room together. He suddenly glance up at Anne and gave her a dazzling smile like he could feel her eyes on him. “You actually have four children……you are aware of that aren’t you?......and he’ll never grow tired of you” Suzie laughed gesturing toward Gilbert trying to cheer her up.

Anne gulped as she watched her husband. She loved him so much. She had never worried about losing him, not since they had both declared their love for each other in this very room. He had told her that she was it for him, that he had never wanted anybody else but her. And she had believed him, she had never doubted him.

But now she started to worry.

Had she been taking him for granted? He looked so tired all the time. Did she listen to his problems as he always listened to hers? She was always coming home and ranting about something, and he always patiently listened and gave her sound advice, alleviating her concerns and worries. He knew her so well; he always made her feel better.

But she knew Gilbert Blythe too. Gilbert Blythe was a bottler. He often bottled his emotions, thoughts and feelings up until he was ready to burst. He was never aggressive, he just got upset. Was she always so caught up in her own world that she failed to notice when her husband needed her, when he needed to unload on her as she did on him?

Had he sought solace from somebody else?

From Christine Stuart?

She felt so confused. She would normally shake it off and tell herself she was being ridiculous. But this time she couldn’t do that. There were too many warning signs. How did he come by that flyer? It looked as if it had been pulled down off the wall. Had he pulled it down from a notice board at the hospital?.......maybe Ron had put it up there, advertising his sister’s debut with the Toronto Philharmonic……maybe Gilbert had seen the beautiful picture of his ex and wanted to keep it. She had found the photo album after all; he had been keeping that for years…… which had led to him ultimately destroying it. He had had to do that, he could hardly keep it after she had discovered it, he had made a point of doing it in front of her. Perhaps having the flyer somehow replaced the album.

Now she really did feel ridiculous, her famous imagination really was running away with her!

She busied herself cutting the cake and tried to push her concerns to the back of her mind. Now was certainly not the time to have a blazing row with him about his ex. She looked over to see where he was now. He was sitting next to Josie, whispering something to her. He was pressed up against her, his arms folded across his chest as he laughed heartily at something that she said. Their thighs and arms were pressed against each other’s as they sat squished on the sofa together. She felt a sharp spike of jealousy sear through her. She narrowed her eyes as she watched them. He nodded towards the centre of the room, indicating that Josie should get up and go there. He was smiling at his ex-girlfriend bewitchingly as she shyly shook her head. She felt another pulse of hot jealousy as she remembered that Josie had been the girl to take her husband’s virginity. An image of her dressed as Madonna kissing a teenage Gilbert against his bedroom door flashed into her mind. That image had tortured her for years, knowing what had subsequently gone on in that room all those years ago.

Back in the here and now, Gilbert called Charlie over and said something to him, which made him shrug his shoulders but then nod enthusiastically to his wife. Gilbert quickly jumped up and dragged a laughing Josie with him, his hands wrapped around both of hers, his thumbs stroking small, reassuring circles on the back of hers.

“Do it” she heard him whisper, to her as she edged towards them.

“But Gilbert……It’s Walters party……I don’t want to steel his thunder……that is usually your wife’s department.”

“You have my full permission……as host……and the birthday boy’s father……do it” he encouraged softly. “You know you want too”.

She laughed and tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. ”Ok” she whispered, looking up at Gilbert with shining happy eyes.

Gilbert grabbed a glass and clinked a cake fork against it to gain everybody’s attention. Josie nudged him playfully with her elbow and looked at Charlie who happily put his arms around his wife’s shoulder. They had seemed very happy together over the last few times that Anne had seen them, their bickering, seemed to have been put on hold for a while.

“Ladies and Gentlemen……” Gilbert called, impersonating the voice of a master of ceremonies “It is with my full permission and consent that His Lord and Her Ladyship Pye-Sloane have an announcement to make”. Josie shoved him again, making him laugh, but he theatrically bowed down to her and backed away from her, giving her centre stage.

Josie, uncharacteristically blushed and again tucked a blonde curl behind her ear. “As many of you may or may not know, for a few years now, Charlie and I have been trying to have a baby. We have had a tough few years, with three miscarriages, seemingly endless cycles of fertility treatments and even surgery to unblock my fallopian tubes. But I am happy to announce that I am……we are……” she corrected herself looking at Charlie, who pulled his arm tighter around her waist “……..nearly four months pregnant now”.

The room erupted into a cacophony of cheers and good wishes, with all of the guests embracing Josie and Charlie, congratulating them. Anne looked to Gilbert who was stood towards the back of the room his arms folded and a big grin on his face. He was gazing at Josie and Charlie with love in his eyes for his old friends, warmth and happiness was radiating from him. He hadn’t told her so, but she knew that he had done this, that he had taken Josie and Charlie on this heart wrenching journey and had eventually got their happy ever after for them. And there he was as humble as ever, just standing back and taking pleasure in other people’s happiness. He was fighting that good fight that he had told her about all those years ago when he had decided to become a doctor. He was making a real difference in people’s lives; he was even helping to create new life. Her husband was amazing, and she loved him so much. She flew across the room and threw herself at him, kissing him deeply. His hazel eyes flew wide open, startled as he didn’t see her rushing across the room to him.

They broke apart as they heard the cake fork clinking on the side of the glass again and this time it was Charlie who spoke.

“Thank you all so much, we’ve kept it as quiet as possible for as long as we could, as we can’t quite believe it is happening” he grinned at his wife “And of course…..” he turned to Gilbert who was still standing in the corner of the room, “…..we wouldn’t be here making this announcement if it wasn’t for this amazing man” Gilbert blushed and waved his hand in front of him in a modest effort to dismiss Charlie’s claims “He is not only the best doctor in a hundred mile radius, but he has also been our best friend throughout all of this journey that we have been on…….he has been there for us when round after round of fertility treatments have failed……. leaving us both in the depths of despair, we have cried in his arms on too many occasions to count. And he has seen us after hours, not charging us for his time, saving us thousands of dollars, and he has been there for us giving us hope and urging us not to give up. He has also supported us through rough times in our relationship……. anybody who has been through the process of fertility treatments and investigations knows what an immense toll it takes on your relationship……..and Gilbert was always there when both Josie and I needed him, even if it was just for a beer to blow off some steam after Jose and I had had a row because of the pressure we were both under”. A tear trickled down Charlie’s cheek “I know we have said this a thousand times already Gilbert, but thank you……thank you from the bottom of our hearts” he raised his glass and toasted “To Dr Gilbert Blythe” he nodded at his old friend across the room and Gilbert nodded silently back as their friends and family toasted him.

Anne looked up at him as he bent down and kissed the top of her head. She had been silly to doubt him, there was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation as to how that flyer had gotten into his work bag, perhaps Ron had given it to him, thinking he would be interested in it, or maybe even wanted him to accompany him there. She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him hard. She caught Suzie’s eye across the room and she looked relived that Anne looked happier in her husband’s embrace. Anne nodded and smiled at her to let her know that she was fine.

Later that evening when all of their guests had left and the three Blythe children were in bed, Anne was in their bedroom and went to the window that overlooked their little garden, she could see Rusty washing himself in the moonlight before he sprawled himself out on the cool grass after a scorching day. As Gilbert came into the room behind her she released her hair from the high ponytail that she had it in all day to keep it off her neck in the summer heat, and began to brush it through.

“What made you do your hair that way?” he asked, referring to the high pony tail.

“Oh, well its fashionable and it keeps me cool”.

He didn’t say it, but Christine always wore her hair like that and he didn’t like to be reminded of it.

“Fashionable?......when did that start bothering you?”

“I know my hair is red and will never be fashionable…….I don’t need you to remind me of that” Anne said icily.

Gilbert thought he was wise in dropping a dangerous subject. Anne, he reflected was still a bit sensitive about her hair. He came up behind her and took the brush from her and began to run it through her hair. He loved the way it fell perfectly around her shoulders.

“I love your hair, you know I do…….you are beautiful, I tell you every day.” he said almost absently, mesmerised by the myriad of colours in it that shone as he brushed it. “Why did you change too, you looked amazing in the rosebud dress?”

She was silent for a few moments before she answered him.

“Because I looked fat in it”.

He stopped brushing her hair and froze “What?” he asked, shocked.

“It’s too small for me now……my body has changed after three children Gilbert…….I’m not twenty two anymore. She took a wipe of her dresser and started to take her make up off.

He gently took hold of her arms and turned her around and looked deeply into her eyes.

“You are most definitely not fat”.

She slumped her shoulders and grabbed the small amount of excess flash around her tummy area and squeezed it “I am so…….look…….and my ass and boobs are definitely bigger”.

He raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at her. Not taking his eyes away from hers, he reached around and squeezed her bottom, then slid his hand around the front of her waist and stroked the underside of her breast with his thumb, making her breath hitch. He then placed his hand over her breast and gently caressed it.

“Gil……” she sighed softly.

His eyes followed his hand as it slid down from her breast, and down her side as he tenderly felt the curve of her waist to her hip. He feigned a posh British accent “Well……I like you very much” he said and looked back into her eyes, a cheeky twinkle in them.

She couldn’t help but smile as she recognised his Bridget Jones quote.

“Ah, apart from the smoking and drinking, and the vulgar mother and……ah, the verbal diarrhoea” she giggled.

He looked her straight in the eyes, again just arching one eyebrow slowly, giving her his full-on smoulder. “No……I like you very much……. just as you are”.

“Are you being my Mr Darcy?”

“No…….I’m being your Gilbert Blythe……that is infinitely better…….I’m a lot less moody” he pulled her in and kissed her passionately, his hands raking through her long red hair.

“Put it back on”.

“Hm?” she asked against his lips kissing him again.

“The rosebud dress……you looked as hot as fuck in that dress earlier”.

“Oh……..so you did notice?”

“You fucking bet I did……I have been thinking about it all day”.

“Really you want me to put it back on?……..I look practically indecent in it”.

He grinned at her “Yes……that’s exactly why I want you to put it back on…….so I can ravish you in it”.

Xx

An hour later they lay naked tangled in the sheets together and he kissed her lazily.

“Anne?”

“Yeah” she sighed contentedly, wrapped in his arms.

“I love you you know”.

“I know…….I love you too”.

“I love your body too…….I don’t care how it changes over time…….I love you…….every single wrinkle, dimple, freckle…….every hair on your head and I am honoured to be the man who gets to see how your body changes with every child that you give me……..I want to see us grow old together and to me you will always be the sexiest woman alive because you are Anne Shirley……Anne Blythe……my wife……. and I love you for it. Your body is amazing, what it can do…….you can grow new life in it…….i cannot do that……I am in awe of women’s bodies and what they can do…….you should be proud of every inch of your body……you are amazing” he wriggled down the bed and kissed her tummy that was a little wobblier than it had been in her youth and softly blew a raspberry on it. She giggled and pushed his face away from her tummy, looking down at him as she did so. He was looking back up at her, grinning, a twinkle in his eyes as he lowered his mouth further down on her body.

“Gil” she laughed, as his eyes looked down at what he was doing to her. “You are just being kind”.

He looked back up at her again, this time his eyes were dark. She knew what that look meant.

“Really again?” she laughed.

“Yeah…….and just so you know…….you are SO not fat…….you are perfect…….Just as you are.”

Chapter Text

It was a week after Walters first birthday and It was hot, very hot, one of the hottest Canadian summers on record. All three of his children had been up in the night, being cranky because they were too hot, and all Anne and he could do was mop their little foreheads with a cool damp cloth and set the fan a tad closer to their beds until they fell back into a restless sleep. Walter was teething too, and was currently inseparable from his mother, so his little sweaty body was either squidged between his parents, or spread out like a starfish on his father’s side of the bed, once Gilbert had given up and gotten out of his own bed and gone to sleep on the sofa.

Parenting was hard, but he loved it. And so, as he sat yawning at his office desk, and enjoying ten more minutes of the hospital air conditioning blasting down on is body before he headed home, he flipped through the photographs they had taken at their beach holiday a few weeks ago. His smart suit jacket that he always wore for work, was hung up on the back of his door and his sleeves were rolled up showing his tanned forearms. His work shirt open at the neck and his tie loosened. He lounged back in his office chair, his feet propped up on his desk smiling away to himself, his hand raked through his curls, and he fiddled with the one that Anne seemed to favour when she was all over him. He could feel his eyes drooping as he flipped through the photographs. He placed his phone down on the desk as exhaustion washed over him and he fell into a deep sleep.

xx

Christine thought he had never looked handsomer as she stood in the open doorway of his office and watched him sleeping soundly in his office chair. Fortunately, the battle-axe known as Alison was off sick, and so the dragon that guarded her prince was nowhere to be found on this particular evening. It was after hours and starting to get dark outside, the administrative suite where his office was located was deserted, all of the other staff had gone home for the weekend, just the gentle hum of the air conditioning unit above his desk was all it took to muffle the sound of her soft footsteps as she closed the door quietly behind her and approached his desk. She tilted her head to one side and appraised him. He was still as beautiful as he ever was, his clothes skewwhiff and his hair tousled and looking as sexy as hell. She used to love watching him sleep when they were dating. It was like watching a sleeping child, his brow relaxed and his perfect lips slightly parted as he steadily breathed.

Christine sighed quietly and slipped Joes hospital security pass that she had used to access this area into her pocket, she had stolen it from him last night when he had stayed over at hers. She stepped closer to Gilbert and looked at his parted lips and for a second and contemplated just sitting on his knee and kissing him, she could almost remember how soft and warm his lips were, what an amazing kisser he was, how he had made her knees go weak that first time that he had cupped her face in his hands and kissed her for the first time outside her apartment all of those years ago, giving her a tender kiss before it heated up into him giving her a thorough kissing, pressing her up against her wall. God, how she ached to feel his lips on hers again. She had never felt anything like it before or since. She licked her lips and took another step towards him.

No, she had not gone as far as she had to just get a 3 second sleepy kiss out of him before he woke up enough to realise it wasn’t his wife he was kissing. She knew at this stage he would just shove her off and she would be back to being frozen out again.

No. Christine Stuart was playing the long game, and the first half of that game was to get rid of the wife.

She remembered the first time she had been to his office, as soon as she had stepped inside it, it was like she had been transported back in time. The books piled neatly on the book shelves, his laptop, pens, paper and other stationary precisely organised on his desk. The leathery and piney smell that seemed to be his unique scent. It was just like being back in his old dorm room. That day she had hoped to have lunch with him, but he had had to rush of to a meeting. He had offered to let her have her lunch in his office. As usual Gilbert Blythe was too kind for his own good. He had mentioned that Anne would be along shortly before he had rushed off, probably as an afterthought, so that she wouldn’t linger too long. Christine had been tempted to hang around and wait for his wife to find her in his office. But it was too soon for that, she had a meticulous plan and she needed to stick to it. She did however decide to take advantage of the situation that had presented itself too her.

She had wandered around the office, running her fingertips over his desk and had slipped his pen into her pocket. She sat down on the grey velvet sofa that was in front of his office window. She could imagine him lying back on this sofa and thinking, she could almost see the way that his brow furrowed when he was deep in thought. She had slipped her shoes off and ran her bare feet over the plush velvet, imaging having an adulterous tryst with him, in his office, on this sofa, the risk of getting caught by his wife as they made love, sent a thrill throughout her whole body. She pressed her head back into a pillow behind her and closed her eyes, lost in the fantasy of them together. After a while she sat up and looked at the cushion behind her. It was grey velvet the same as the sofa but had a William Blake poem embroidered onto it. She picked it up and scoffed, she knew that Anne Shirley had given him that, she contemplated trashing it, but that would give her away, after all he did know that she was in his office. She suddenly had an idea. Slipping her pink cashmere cardigan off she hid it underneath the cushion and then pushed it down as hard as she could, so that the cardigan was hidden underneath it. She knew Anne Shirley too well and knew that the house-proud adoptive daughter of Marilla Cuthbert would not be able to resist plumping the cushion up she saw it flattened and half pressed down the side of the sofa. She knew that that would lead to her finding the cardigan.

Back in the here and now, she smiled to herself, him being asleep had actually made her task here so much easier. She thought she would have to distract him, but luck it seemed was on her side tonight. She saw the object of her mission this evening, lying on his desk. She stepped quietly over and picked his phone up. The first thing she did was turn it slightly to see that it was on silent. She didn’t want any alerts coming through and waking him up. She knew what Gilbert Blythe was like though, and once he was asleep. It would take an earthquake to wake him up.

The phone was on silent so she quickly went and sat down on the couch in his office. She tapped the screen and it lit up showing a picture of him and Anne on the beach together, Anne had a dark-haired baby on her hip and he had a little girl who looked about 3 or 4 with the same chocolate coloured curls as him in one arm, her head resting lovingly on her father’s shoulder, and in his other arm was a little boy who looked about two with red curls and blue eyes. Christine winced at the red curls, and would have made a vomiting sound if she weren’t so afraid of waking the sleeping doctor up.

She swiped up, but of course it came up with the lock screen. ‘Face ID’ and a padlock symbol that gave her a scathing little shake of its head, like it knew what she was up to and was refusing to let her in. She was not to be side tracked. She tapped ‘unlock with passcode’ and tapped in the number that she suspected was his passcode…..Anne's birthday……and the phone unlocked. “For fucks sake, what a gimp” Christine whispered under her breath, how unimaginative of him. She had been planning this for months and had thought about the possibility that the phone would be password protected, he probably had all sorts of confidential patient information on it. Her first guess was that his password would be Anne related, her birthday or their wedding anniversary.

She shot a quick look over in his direction, he was still fast asleep at his desk. She went to their text stream and opened it up. They had texted each other occasionally over the last year, but his answers had always been fairly monosyllabic. She checked her own phone was on silent and then between the two phones in her hand she sent a series of messages back and forth. She cunningly changed the time and date on his phone with each message, to make it look like they had been messaging each other all year, and so that they wouldn’t all sit at the top of his inbox where he was more likely to discover them himself and delete them. She kept it fairly innocent at this stage, she had put a lot of thought into what she wanted the ‘fake’ conversation between them to say.

Just a few:

‘let’s meet for coffee’.

‘Was great to see you yesterday’.

‘You sounded amazing at the concert the other night’.

‘I’m sorry I asked you not to tell Anne, I don’t like lying to her, but she wouldn’t understand. It was just nice to have a night away from nappies and screaming babies, to be me and not ‘Daddy’ all the time’.

‘I’m looking forward to seeing you again’.

‘Let’s do dinner at your place next time’.

Just enough to do some damage, just enough to make them argue when Anne saw them. Little cracks in a marriage, soon turned into gaping chasms, she knew that from her own experience.

This was war as far as Christine was concerned and fortunately for her, she knew her enemy well. She knew Anne Shirley. When she had been dating him, all Gilbert had done at the time was waffle on about how amazing his ‘best friend’ was. It had really pissed her off at the time, but now she was quite grateful for his ramblings, as he had given her an insight into the workings of the mind of her arch enemy, the bitch who had stolen the man she loved away from her.

Christine knew that Anne had had bad experiences in her life, growing up in the foster system. She knew that she was naturally suspicious of people and overthought absolutely everything, especially anything to do with Gilbert Blythe. Anne had a terrible temper and often said hurtful things in the heat of an argument, that she knew always upset him. Christine knew that one of the things that irritated him the most was that she always assumed the worst of him, always had and always will. So, she knew that these messages would cause trouble in his marriage. She knew that Anne would jump to the conclusion that they had been seeing each other behind her back.

Christine smiled to herself as she unblocked herself on his Instagram and Facebook accounts, accepting her friend requests on his account on his behalf. She had already made him lie to his wife, when Anne had facetimed him and caught them together in his office. Even though it had made her burn with envy when his face had lit up when he talked about his wife’s success and how she was in Paris, promoting a new line of Louboutin’s, she had practically skipped down the hospital corridor that afternoon. How fortuitous that had been, it gave her great pleasure to see him lying to his wife. Christine knew that would only fuel Anne’s paranoia when she found out that her and Gilbert were friends again. She was also pleased that he was lying to her, as if he really loved his wife, and was in a mutually trusting and loving relationship, he would have already told her about his ex-girlfriend coming back into his life, right?

Why was he lying to her……. Anne obviously did not trust him.

Their relationship obviously was not as strong as it should be.

Anne didn’t deserve him; he was way out of her league. His wife was obviously wasn’t looking after him, he always looked exhausted and stressed whenever she had seen him lately. That was hardly surprising with all of those dreadful children.

Christine stood up and gently placed his phone back on his desk next to him and looked at him lovingly as he slept. God, she loved him. She would do anything, go to any lengths to get him back into her world. She knew it was going to take time, she knew he would not just fall back into her arms, but all she had to do was wait. She would wait until all of her little schemes came together, causing Gilbert Blythe to leave his wife, where she would naturally be there to comfort him, and he could grow to trust her again….. Grow to love her again. She knew he would, they were good together.

He was eternally hers, she loved him, and in love there is no measure of time……she would bide her time and when the time was right……she would take back what was rightfully hers.

Her eyes wandered over his desk, she looked at his pictures of his wife and family, and she felt nauseated. She leant over and picked up a picture of Anne looking stunning in her wedding dress, smiling happily at the camera. Christine turned away from him, with the picture still in her hand and walked quietly towards the door. She glanced at him again over her shoulder and as she put her hand on the office door to open it, she saw his suit jacket hanging on the back of it. She could smell his aftershave on it, it smelt of him. She buried her face in it and breathed it in, intoxicated by his scent, she reached up and took the jacket off the door and folded it over her arm as she left the room, leaving the door open as she had found it. She swiped herself out of the door with Joe’s hospital security card again and walked down the darkened hallway.

She went into the first bathroom that she came across and dropped the photograph of Anne in the yellow clinical waste bin with a loud clatter, before slipping his jacket on and pulling it tight around her body before heading for the hospital exit.

A smile twisted on her face.

Chapter Text

30 minutes later Gilbert stirred and woke up with a start, he had had the weirdest dream. He dropped his feet down from his desk and sat up rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, trying to get the dream out of his brain. He had dreamt about Christine……he had dreamt that Christine had taken Jem, and he had spent all day chasing her around trying to get his son back. His heart pounded as he ran his hands through his hair and tried to rid his nostrils of her perfume…..God it was like he could actually smell it. He shuddered and stood up from his desk. “Shit” he mumbled when he realised how late it was, and how long he had been asleep for. He turned the air-conditioning unit off and grabbed his bag and car keys off his desk. He walked over to the door and reached around the back of it to grab his jacket. He frowned when his hand didn’t make contact with it, so he pulled the door towards him, so that he could see the empty hook on the back of it.

His frowned deepened, he was sure he had put it there, he looked around uselessly. It was no good, it wasn’t there. Maybe he had left it in the clinic downstairs, he had been on and off with it all day as it was so hot.

He grabbed his phone off his desk and rang Anne.

“Hiya” she answered softly “You ok? I was starting to get a bit worried about you”.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just fell asleep at my desk again Carrots…..” he closed his office door behind him, his phone wedged between his chin and his shoulder and locked the door. “……I’m sorry I’m late……..are the kids ok……..Jem……is Jem ok?”

“Yeah he’s fine……why do you ask?”

“Oh nothing really…….I just had a bad dream and it scared the shit out of me is all”.

“Oh……well they are all safely tucked up in bed”.

“I’m sorry……I missed bedtime again” he groaned, rolling his eyes at himself.

“Joy cried for you again”.

“Oh God……I feel awful” he got into his car, which was like getting into an oven, the heat of the day having built up inside of it. He switched the call from his handset to the Bluetooth in the car.

“Gil, don’t torture yourself, she has got to get used to you not being here all the time, she is nearly four”.

“I know but I still feel awful…….you wanna get a pizza tonight, we can cuddle up on the sofa and watch Young Sheldon”.

“Well, I’ve already eaten as its well after 9…….” She went quiet for a moment and he sensed her unspoken annoyance with him “I did save you some dinner, but I can order you a pizza if you want”.

“No that’s ok……I’d rather eat what you have cooked…….” he said not convincingly “I just wanted to pretend we were young and fancy free again, like when we were students” he yawned loudly.

“Then I will order you a pizza and a cuddle you shall have and we can pretend to be 18 again” she said down the phone. “No kissing though, if you want to keep it authentic” she laughed “There are certain liberties that you are allowed to take now that we are 32 and married, with three children that you didn’t have when you were 18”.

“Oh, you are so mean sometimes Shirley”.

Two hours, a 12-inch margarita pizza (as that was all they could afford when they were 18), four episodes of Young Sheldon and many cuddles and kisses (yes, she couldn’t resist) later, Anne found herself in bed with a snoring Gilbert Blythe. His arm was thrown over his brow, holding his curls of his face, she could see his eyes flickering, he was obviously half way to wonderland and dreaming.

“Jem…..no……” he mumbled.

She bent down from where she was sitting up next to him in bed and kissed his cheek lightly, not wanting to wake him up, but wanting to sooth him. Still fast asleep he lifted his arm up as if to bat her away, his lips moving soundlessly. She sat back up her feelings slightly hurt. She flipped the covers off her and stuck her leg out over the sheet. It was so goddamn hot. She would rather be too cold than too hot. At least she could always cuddle up to him and warm herself up with her husband’s warm body lying next to hers. Gilbert became increasingly restless in his sleep next to her, so she tried to sooth him again by gently stroking his hair.

“Chrissy” he mumbled, his head lolling to one side.

Anne froze, her fingers still in his hair. She felt like all of the air had been sucked out of her lungs, her heart began to thunder, requiring more oxygen to function, but she could not breath. She quickly retracted her hand and he turned away from her.

Tears began to sting the back of her eyes and she suddenly gasped for air, having been unconsciously holding her breath. Her ears were ringing and her hands started to shake as the tears now poured down her cheeks. She climbed out of bed and stumbled out of their darkened bedroom, she shut the door quietly behind her and ran into the living room where she fell into a distraught heap on the couch and cried herself to sleep.

Xx

The following morning Anne woke up with her head banging and her throat dry. The dawn light that was filtering through the living room window was dank and dull, yesterday’s clear skies and glorious sunshine replaced by thunderous foreboding clouds that left the apartment feeling oppressive and stifling. She was momentarily confused as to why she was on the living room couch and not in her bed, but then the events of the night before crashed into her mind and she remembered why she was not in bed with her husband. She rolled back over and cried anew into a cushion she was hugging to her chest. She closed her eyes and she could still see her husband’s handsome face whispering his ex-girlfriends name in his sleep.

How was she to handle this?

Was she being ridiculous?

How did she really feel about it? She was hurt and confused. That she knew.

But could she really get angry with him because he said his ex-girlfriends name……. when he was unconscious and fast asleep? If it hadn’t had been for that album full of loved up photographs of them together and that flyer in his bag last week, she would have just brushed it off.

She sat up and took some deep breaths trying to steady her heart rate. She needed to talk to him about it……he would no doubt be mortified by it. He probably would not even remember the dream for heaven’s sake.

She stood up and walked across the hall and back into their room. The bed was rumpled and unmade and also empty, it was still early, she was surprised he wasn’t still fast asleep. She sat on the edge of the bed and ran her fingers through her dishevelled hair and then rubbed her temples with her finger tips to try and ease the throbbing.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I wake you?” she heard him say as he came quickly but silently into the room.

She closed her eyes and rubbed them, not wanting to look at him, in case he read her emotions in her eyes. She felt exhausted, she didn’t want to have a massive argument with him.

“No” was all she said, in a voice that didn’t sound like hers.

She could hear him quickly dashing around the room, but she still didn’t look at him.

“The hospital have called, I’ve got to go in……..I’m needed in surgery……Jez has called in sick…….have you seen my suit Jacket by the way?......I seem to have lost it”.

She looked up and shook her head, he had obviously just been in the shower, his curls wet through, beads of water glistening on his tanned skin and a white towel wrapped around his waist. His chest was as sculptured and toned as it always was…….his body didn’t ever seem to change as he got older, he just looked exactly the same as when he was 18, when he had pulled her out of the Lake of Shining Waters. He dropped the towel from around his waist and started to dry his shoulders with it. She had seen him naked a thousand times of course, but now as she sat and watched him towelling himself down, she couldn’t help but feel slightly betrayed by the beauty of his body. He looked so beautiful still, perfect really. She tightened her robe around herself, feeling insecure about her own changing body. She had always had scars on her abdomen from the car accident when she was only 9, they had turned thin and silvery over the years. She remembered how his lips had lightly and lovingly kissed them, the first time that she had been naked in front of him when they had made love in Antigua. He had told her later when they were officially together that he had whispered a silent prayer of thanks as he had kissed her scars that night, thankful that her body had healed and she had survived the crash that had killed her parents.

But now those silvery scars were accompanied by angry red stretch marks across her stomach from having three children and a c section scar that had been cut by his own hand. She looked away from him, he was so perfect……..why would he still want her when he could have anybody. ‘I bet Christine Fucking Bitch Stuart hasn’t got any stretch marks, her skin is probably as smooth as silk and as fair as alabaster’ Anne thought darkly to herself. Her stomach rolled as an unpleasant mental image entered her head of Christine’s fair skin pressed up naked to Gilberts tanned and toned body as they made love together. She knew that that had happened in the past, that he must have enjoyed having sex with Christine.

“Oh God” she moaned quietly, the pounding in her head worsening and she rushed out of the room and into the bathroom and vomited into the toilet.

Gilbert was quickly behind her with an anxious look on his face.

“Are you ok?” he whispered, holding her hair back for her as she vomited again.

“You’re not……?” was all he got to say before she quickly said “No”.

She knew she wasn’t pregnant; her period had just finished. He should have known that. He normally knew exactly where she was in her cycle, being an obstetrician and from having a lot of sex with her, but she supposed perhaps he was distracted with somebody else.

“I think I have a migraine” was all she said.

He crouched down next to her by the toilet and made eye contact with her for the first time that morning. His hazel eyes were anxious and earnest, full of love and concern. She knew that her own gaze was guarded and untrusting.

His eyes flicked left and right between hers, trying to read her. She noticed a flash of hurt pass through them. He frowned slightly “Are you ok Carrots?” he asked again, pressing his palm against her forehead to check of she had a fever.

“Yeah” she said weakly, looking away from him, unable to look into his eyes for a moment longer. “I’m sure it will pass over”.

His phone beeped.

“Shit…….I’ve got to get into work…….are you sure you are going to be ok?”

“Yeah, the kids won’t be up for another couple of hours……I’ll just take some pain killers and go back to bed”.

“Well make sure you drink plenty…….it’s so hot Anne, you may be dehydrated or have sun stroke”.

The night had been hot and humid. Days and weeks of heat had built up in the city and the apartment was as hot as a pressure cooker. They could not throw the windows open here and get a cool sea breeze in through the house like they could on the Island. No, it was as hot outside as it was in. An impatient rumble of thunder threatened the inevitable incoming storm in the distance, as he heard a few spots of rain against the bathroom window. He had assumed when he had been woken up by his phone ringing and his wife was not in bed, that she had gotten too hot and had gone to sleep on the sofa, but now as he looked down at her, he feared it was more than that.

“I just need sleep Gil……and I will be fine……stop making a fuss” she snapped, her temper getting the better of her as she stood up and walked away from him. Needing to distance herself from him. How could he look at her like that all trusting and adorable, like a lovestruck puppy……..when he had been dreaming about his fucking ex…….or fucking his ex…….her stomach rolled again and she quickly turned back to the toilet and was sick again.

“Right that’s it, there is no way I can go into work” he fretted, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

She rotated a shoulder to displace his hand to get it away from her, in a gesture that seemed more aggressive than she meant it to be. “Just go Gilbert……I will be fine……. believe it or not I am not a fairy princess……or a man come to that…….I can be ill and still function at the same time……..I am far more robust than you seem to think……..I mean it just go”.

“Ok…….if you are sure?”

“Just fucking go!”

He startled and stepped back at her profanity as a sudden clap of thunder, accompanied by a stark flash of lightening lit the bathroom up, where she was sat on the floor by the toilet. A horrible memory shot though Gilberts mind, a memory of the storm that night in Antigua, the night when they fought after he had told her that he loved her for the first time, and she had locked herself in the bathroom and he had heard her throw up.

She suddenly looked up at him, her eyes vulnerable and scared, as if she was having the same thoughts as him. Fear shot through every cell in his body. He could tell that something was wrong between them. He had not felt like this since that day when he had knocked on her empty apartment door, when she had fled Toronto to get away from him when she was pregnant with Joy.

“Anne……” he begged, tears forming in his own confused and hurt eyes, he tried to take her hand but she moved away. She placed her hand on the toilet seat and rested her forehead on it.

Deafening silence stretched between them.

His phone started ringing and made them both jump, both knew it would be the hospital.

“Just go Gilbert” she whimpered and practically pushed him away “Somebody needs you more than I do right now……just go……please”.

He answered his phone as he helped Anne up, again she shrugged him off her.

“Yeah…….I’m coming…….I’ll be there in 10……” he started talking the team through what they needed to do to prepare the patient “Can you do me a favour and ring Winnie……my wife is unwell and I want her to come over and check on her…….Ok……..thanks Aud” he hung up and dashed to get his shoes on.

“I don’t need Winnie……I’m sure she has better things to do”.

He gently caught hold of her and tried to help her into bed “It’s either her or me!”

She sought out two painkillers from the bedside drawers and gulped them down with a whole glass of water he placed next to her from the bathroom.

“I’ll take her then”.

Gilbert rolled his eyes, his lips set into a firm line.

Another bolt of lightening lit the room up and sent a shiver down his spine.

He leant down and kissed her cheek, knowing instinctively that she did not want his kiss on her lips.

He whispered “Please call me if you feel any worse……. promise me?” he held his finger up to her and she rolled over and closed her eyes and gave him a small nod. He backed away towards the door “I love you Carrots” was all he said before he hastily left the bedroom, afraid that if he stayed, he would know for sure that she had not said it back to him. He would rather go off to work thinking that he had just not heard her, rather than his unsettling suspicion that she had not said it back to him at all.

Chapter Text

She woke up three hours later, there was still a trace of headache floating around in her head, and her arms and legs felt like a lead weight. She felt physically and emotionally exhausted, she had cried herself to sleep again after he had left for work. But as she came back to consciousness her mind felt clearer and sharper. She needed to talk about it, she was sure if she sounded her concerns out with Diana, she would be able to get things back into perspective.

She heard Walter giggle from the living room. It was Saturday and Suzie had the day off with a family commitment. Winnie must have come over and let herself in and was watching the children for her whilst she slept. She rolled her eyes at herself. Gilbert had been right again, she did need help and felt infinitely better for being left to sleep her headache off.

She opened the bedroom door and wandered into the living room.

“Mommies up!” Joy yelled. Racing over to Anne and jumping into her arms. “Is Mommy Better?”

“Yes, thank you darling” she kissed her daughters little rosy cheek.

“Morning…….How are you feeling?” Winnie said walking into the room with Walter on her hip. He held his arms out to his mother as soon as he saw her and Winnifred passed him to her as Joy returned to the floor to play with her building blocks.

“Sit down, I’ll make you a cup of tea……I am under orders to make sure you drink plenty as soon as you wake up” she smiled.

“Thanks Winnie, I really appreciate you coming over on your day off” she sat back on the sofa and fed Walter from her breast. He only fed from her first thing in the morning and last thing at night. She felt like she had been breast feeding constantly for the last four years.

“That’s ok. Gilbert is worried sick about you……he’s texted me about fifty times in the last hour for updates on how you are” she laughed.

Anne smiled weakly and rubbed her forehead “I was a B.I.T.C.H to him this morning” she spelt out for Joys benefit, who’s language skills were exceptional for her age, unsurprisingly considering her parents’ intelligence.

Winnie sighed, “I know……he did mention it……once or twice…… or maybe twenty times”. She smiled sympathetically.

Anne closed her eyes and leant back against the sofa. Why was her husband surrounded by the most beautiful women in the world. She opened her eyes again and looked at Winnie as she went into the kitchen to make the tea. She was so beautiful, golden curls, gathered up on top of her head, with just a few tendrils romantically floating around the sides of her beautiful face. She was only wearing yoga pants and a baggy t shirt but she looked amazing, her figure was stunning, Anne had always been a bit envious of her body…….and her eyes were so blue…..

“Anne stop for f’s sake” she chastised herself and shook her head, trying to clear the self-destructive thoughts from her mind. She knew that Gilbert loved and desired her, he told her several times a day and the rational half of her brain was screaming at her that she knew that was true, that he would never cheat or be unfaithful to her in any way. But she had increasingly been listening to her irrational inner voice, that was screaming slightly louder that something was wrong……. very wrong.

She hated to admit it ……. but she was starting to doubt him. It was so hard to get rid of an idea, once it had embedded itself in your brain and made a home for itself in there.

Winnie came back in with the tea and a plate of Gingernuts (Gilberts favourites she remembered from the night she had split up with Roy). She took one gratefully and bit into it.

“Have you two had a row?” Winnie broached.

She shook her head “No” she said softly “it’s just marriage is hard sometimes……even when you are desperately in love”.

“You have only been married for two years Anne…..you sound like you are about to celebrate your golden wedding anniversary” Winnie chuckled, as she sat down next to Anne and stroked Walter sleek black hair.

“We may have only been married for two years, but we have both been in this relationship for over half of our lives…….and a lot of it has not been pretty”.

“I know…….I was with him in London remember…….when you two had fallen out. He was a shadow of a man then Anne……..his eyes were hollow and he looked like he was barely existing……it was quite alarming to witness.”

“I know” Anne whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you both at the moment…….but what I do know is that man loves you with his very soul……..he would never do anything that he knew would hurt you Anne, you have to believe me”.

Anne just stared into the middle distance unseeing.

“I believe you Winnie, well I believe that that is what you think……..the problem is, I don’t think I am enough for him…….”

“What!” Winnie exclaimed a little too loudly and then repeated more softly this time “What?.......that’s nonsense Anne”.

Anne just rested her head back on the sofa and shook her head, her eyes closing.

“The guy is obsessed with you Anne, how on earth can you possibly think that…….he talks about you constantly at work…….even the nurses have given up flirting with him as he is so obviously completely and utterly, happily loved up with you, he doesn’t even look at them……..As soon as a new nurse starts on the ward, its practically part of the induction course for them to be told to not bother with Dr Blythe because he is completely in love with his wife…….it’s almost comical”.

Anne opened her eyes and looked at her friend and sighed heavily.

“I think I’m losing my mind Win……I just feel in my gut that something is wrong…….’something is rotten in the state of Denmark’” she quoted.

“You know what……I think you are right……. you are losing your marbles” Winnie laughed. “Here give me that baby……” she took the sleeping Walter off Anne “Go and get some rest, you are just probably exhausted……..and drink your tea”.

Anne nodded and picked her tea up and headed back to the bedroom, she was right, she was exhausted.

“Oh and Anne…….”

“Yeah”.

“He loves you……..don’t ever doubt that……..he was broken in London without you……please don’t hurt him again”.

“That is the last thing I want to do” she said quietly before she closed the bedroom door and went back to bed.

Xx

Gilbert checked his phone again:

No calls or texts from Anne, but one from Winnie.

[Winnie]: She’s just been up to feed Walt, her head feels better and no more sickness. She just seems a bit down. I think she Just needs to be Blythed.

[Gilbert]: OK, Thanks Win. Did she tell you what’s wrong? I can barely function here, I’m worried sick…..Have I done something?

[Winnie]:……

[Winnie]: I don’t want to break her confidence Gilbert

[Gilbert]: Please Winnie, my heart is breaking and my head is a mess. Help me to put it right. I can’t function without her.

[Winnie]: She knows that you love her, she said that……But she said she ‘doesn’t think she is enough for you’.

[Gilbert]: What!?

[Winnie]: I know……I don’t understand either. Perhaps she is just feeling a bit low and needs some reassurance.

[Gilbert]: ok

[Gilbert]: I don’t understand though……she’s my goddess and she knows it.

[Winnie]: You work all the hours God sends and you have three small children…….perhaps you need to make more time just for her……that’s all I can think of.

[Winnie] I don’t understand it either…..I’m sorry but I have to ask you this question.

[Gilbert]:?

[Winnie]: There isn’t anybody else is there?

[Gilbert]: Really! I cannot believe you have just asked me that!

[Gilbert]: NO! Of course not.

[Gilbert]: Is that what she thinks?

[Winnie] No…….she hasn’t said anything along those lines. That was just me……..sorry Gilbert. I should have known better than to have asked you that.

[Gilbert] I would never do that.

[Winnie]: I know, I’m sorry.

There was a long pause whilst Gilbert sat in his office chewing his nails. He couldn’t believe that Winnie would even think that. She had been with him in London when he and Anne had fallen out, she had seen first hand how Anne’s absence in his life had nearly killed him…… Quite literally. If the Typhoid hadn’t have killed him, without Anne in his life he would probably have drunk himself to death by now.

Winnie had been a great support to him at that time. She had come onto him, the day that they had been to visit Buckingham palace. After showing him and a couple of other delegates from the medical conference around the city. He and Winne had gone out for dinner at the shard alone together and she had tried to kiss him. He had then drunkenly confessed all to her and had told her all about his school friend whom he was desperately in love with, but had lost. She had taken his glass out of his hand and held him whilst he had sobbed in her arms. She had supported him through his separation from Anne when they had returned to Canada, getting him to speak to a counsellor and to stop drinking.

[Gilbert]: It’s ok. You are right. I need to make sure that I make more time for her. I love her Winnie. Please tell her that if you get the chance. She isn’t responding to me.

[Winnie]: I have told her. Try not to worry, I’m sure whatever it is will blow over. Perhaps it is her time of the month and she is a little over sensitive at the moment.

[Gilbert]: I almost wish that were true, but that was last week.

[Gilbert]: I have to go. Thanks for everything Win. I should be able to be back by 5.

Xx

Diana was sitting out on the porch, her legs crisscrossed on the swing seat enjoying the Prince Edward Island sunshine, the sea breeze and the bird song that surrounded her as she watched Fred Junior play in the front garden of her and Fred’s new home.

Her phone was wedged between her shoulder and her cheek as she listened to her bosom friend’s troubles.

“I understand how you feel Anne, but just because the photo album was at the top of the box, doesn’t mean he had been looking at it……..he probably just unloaded all the crap that is in there and then put it all back in a reverse order…….we are talking about a guy here……they practically have blinkers on when they are looking for stuff……..he probably didn’t even see it there”.

She was silent for a few moments as her friend spoke.

“He threw it straight in the trash, it’s hardly like he was treasuring it” she sighed as she switched her phone to the other ear, and flipped her sunglasses down over her blue eyes. She had loved living in Toronto, but she had never been happier than these last few weeks when she and her Fred’s had returned to Avonlea.

“Anne…….I know…….but…….if there was something going on between him and Christine, don’t you think he would have made a better job of hiding the photo album, rather than leaving it where he knew you were going to be looking in the next few days……. it was with your passport for heaven’s sake. We are talking Gilbert Blythe here. The most intelligent bloke we all know…...he’s not that stupid”.

“Freddy……no……don’t put that in your mouth……. that’s it……..good boy” she held the phones microphone away from her mouth so that she didn’t deafen Anne in Toronto as she chastised her son.

“Well perhaps he saw the flyer on the notice board at the hospital and pulled it down because he didn’t want to see his ex’s face every time he walked down the blessed corridor and then stuffed it in his bag and forgot about it…….I know I wouldn’t want to see Jerry’s face grinning at me every day in my work place.”

She paused again and rolled her eyes as Anne ranted about how beautiful the picture of Christine was, and how plain and homely she was.

“I never thought she was that pretty…….she doesn’t hold a candle to you……..Anne STOP!......for heaven’s sake, have you seen how your husband looks at you?……How’s the sex?”

Diana’s eyes widened at her friends reply, and she found herself blushing.

“Okaaaaayy, a simple ‘great’ would have sufficed there thanks, that was way too much information”.

She paused again whilst Anne spoke.

“I really don’t believe that I’m afraid hun……Can I tell you a secret?”

Her friend consented.

“For so long now….. I have kinda always been a bit jealous of you”.

A startled sound came from her friend in Toronto.

“Don’t get me wrong now, what Fred and I have is great……he’s a wonderful guy, and I love him with everything that I am. But he is nowhere near as attentive to me as Gilbert is to you. The love just radiates out of his eyes Anne……he adores you……you know that. And sometimes I have to admit that I am a bit envious of what you two have……the way he caresses your hand when he holds it, the special little smile he saves only for you……this is not just me speaking…..we have all witnessed it Anne. He was completely broken without you……do you honestly think he would risk any of that for a quick shag with Christine?”

Her friend agreed that no, her husband would not do that, and Diana could sense the dark cloud that was hanging over her lift away. She heard her start to cry with relief.

“I told you on the day that you met him, the day that he called you ‘Carrots’ that he was a good guy and you didn’t believe me, wouldn’t listen to a word I was telling you……..Now after all of these years, I am really going to enjoy saying this…….who was right and who was wrong that day Miss Shirley?”

She paused as she friend laughed and admitted that yes, Diana had been right, Gilbert Blythe was in deed a good guy.

“I’m sorry…….I didn’t quite catch that……are you Mrs Anne BLYTHE admitting that you were wrong and jumped to the wrong conclusion about him, and if you had listened to your intelligent and beautiful friend Diana that you wouldn’t have wasted 15 years denying that he was the best guy you would ever meet AND the love of your life?

Her friend now laughed heartily and wiped happy tears away from her face.

Diana chuckled too.

“Well take my advice now then my wonderful, intelligent and beautiful friend…….stop your whining, go have a shower, put your face on and kiss that annoyingly handsome doctor of yours when he comes home from delivering somebodies baby or saving a life, or whatever heroic thing he has been doing all day on his day off. OK?”

Her friend smiled through her tears and thanked her and told her that she loved her.

“I love you too……Bye now” Diana hung up and smiled at her phone. She looked up to see Fred, leaning against the door frame smiling at her, his apron on and a tea towel in his hands.

“So you didn’t tell her then?”.

“No……today wasn’t the right time”.

Xx

Gilbert stood nervously outside his own front door with an exquisite hand tied bunch of flowers in one hand and his door key in the other. He closed his eyes and his heart raced as he remembered the day after he had returned from London and went to visit her, to try and make things right between them again. A bunch of flowers in his hand that day that he never got to give to her as she had packed her things and run away. Things were different now though. They loved each other, they were married, they talked more than they ever did before. He gulped and put the key in the lock and let himself in to his apartment. As usual, he heard Joy cheer and her little feet came thundering down the hall as she raced around the corner to greet him from work. She threw her little arms around his knees and grinned up at him.

“Yay! Daddy’s home!” she cheered again. He couldn’t help but smile. He got down onto his knees and wrapped his arms around his daughter in the hallway, holding her tight and he couldn’t help but sob into her little summer dress that she was wearing. The stresses and strains of the day getting the better of him.

“I love you Joy” he whispered to her and clutched onto her, the flowers still in his hand that were wrapped around his daughter.

“I love you too Daddy……why you crying? Are you being a silly billy?” she asked confused. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought her feet and legs up and climbed into his arms. His face was still buried in her shoulder, when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Anne, his eyes red from crying and his mouth set in an unhappy line. She looked tired and drained too. The day having taken a toll on her as well. But her hair was freshly washed and was as shiny as silk and smelt of wildflowers and she had his favourite green wrap dress on. Her eyes were sparkling green, with just a little mascara and lip gloss on. She still looked incredibly beautiful.

“Gil” was all she had to say and he stood up with Joy still in his arms and embraced her tightly. Joy giggled to be involved in a three-way huggy with her Mummy and Daddy. Anne peppered his face with little kisses. “I’m sorry Gil…….I was being ridiculous…….I didn’t mean to be so hurtful this morning…..will you forgive me?”

“Yes of course” he kissed her back “I love you Anne……I’m sorry if I’ve been too busy at work……I’ll try and make more time for just us…….I’m under so much pressure at work……even when I am here my head is still at the hospital……..will you forgive me?”

“Yes……there’s nothing to forgive Gil……I married a doctor…..I knew you would always be busy at work, and I am so proud of you.”

“I will try Anne, I promise, you and the kids will always be my priority”.

“I know” she pulled back and smiled softly at him and raked her hands through his hair making the tension in his shoulders relax. Joy twirled one of his curls around her little fingers like she saw her mother do so often, she dropped her head sideways onto her father’s shoulder and sucked her thumb, she did this every night when he got home from work. It made Gilbert and Anne smile at each other and he dropped his head onto his wife’s shoulder too. He buried his eyes in the crook of her neck.

“I love you” he whispered again, vulnerability very evident in his voice. Anne’s heart ached. She had been ridiculous to suspect him of having an affair. She knew he would never do that to her. She was almost embarrassed to admit it to herself that she had had those thoughts.

Joy wriggled out of his arms as she heard Jem turn the TV over from her favourite programme that she had been watching.
Gilberts now free arm slipped around his wife’s waist and he hugged her hard. “What was it Anne?......why were you so upset this morning?”

Anne blushed. She felt utterly ridiculous. Why was it that every silly concern and little fear seemed amplified during the night time hours. It seemed as though all sense and rational thought, packed their bags and vacated the human brain as soon as one got into bed and turned the lights off. All of the niggling little worries and anxieties that we can normally dismiss with ease during the daytime, come back with full on force, distorted and hideous and completely out of proportion at night time, fuelled by paranoia and causing a sleepless night.

“it was nothing…….I was just being ridiculous” her chats to both Winnie and Diana had helped her to put her fears into perspective and now she didn’t even want to give grace to those anxieties by voicing them.

She smiled up at him. “Are you going to give me those flowers or are they for your mistress?” was as all that she was going to say on the matter. He laughed and pulled the bouquet from around her back and handed them to her, with a loving kiss to her lips, his eyes glorious and his dimples as charming as ever.

‘Oh, for fucks sake’ Anne thought to herself as she buried her face into the beautiful flowers and inhaled their perfume. He really could be shagging Christine and he would still be able to charm her around into forgiving him.

xx

“Wow, what beautiful Flowers” Suzie said as she came into the kitchen the following Monday morning.

“Thanks, they are from Gil of course” Anne said proudly.

Josie and Charlie had looked after the kids for them on Sunday, so Anne and Gilbert had gone to the lake for the day, to spend some time alone. They had taken a picnic and just lounged around chatting and laughing like they used to when they were ‘just friends’, about everything and anything or ‘how the world wagged away’ as Gilbert like to call it. He was stretched out in the sun in just his denim cut offs and no shirt, getting a gorgeous tan and she sat next to him under the parasol, wearing a little flippy floral skirt and bikini top, that was a bit too small for her. Gilbert seemed to very much appreciate the fact that it was too small for her bigger breasts and she playfully had to keep reminding him with an ‘I’m up here’, where her eyes were as he kept staring at her cleavage as he was talking to her. The sex that they had had deep in the forest, up against a tree though as the sun dipped down behind the horizon, was most definitely not like when they were ‘Just friends’. They had arrived back at the apartment holding hands and giggling like a couple of naughty teenagers.

Suzie brought Anne’s attention back to the here and now when she lent down and sniffed one of the roses, “He hasn’t got a guilty conscience, has he?.......My father always said that flowers were a sign of a guilty man” she laughed and then abruptly stopped when she saw Anne’s face fall. “Oh sorry…….I really shouldn’t have said that…..sorry Anne…….of course it’s none of my business why your husband buys you flowers.”

“That’s ok…….” she forced a bright smile onto her face “definitely not…….No guilt here…..he’s always surprising me with flowers…….usually Lilies of the Valley actually…….they are my favourite, he knows I love wild flowers”.

“Er that’s great…….” Suzie said awkwardly “are the children in the living room?”

“Yeah……. although Joy is still in bed, Rusty is asleep on her so she is refusing to get up at the moment…...she doesn’t want to disturb him. I’m sure that cat rules this roost” she laughed.

“I’ve got some new gel pens here that I am sure will entice her out of bed……I’ll take them to show her’. Suzie tucked a short piece of hair behind her ear and left the room with a small cardboard box of pens in her hand.

Anne busied herself making some cheese straws to take over to Gilbert for his lunch. She thought that they could spent some more alone time together. There was a memorial garden at the hospital, where she thought they could go. She suddenly heard Rusty hiss and a yelping noise that sounded as if it came from Suzie.

She picked up the tea towel to wipe the flour from her hands and walked towards the scene of the disturbance, Rusty rushed past Anne’s ankles, his ears back. a ridge of fur sticking up down his orange back and his tail like a bottle brush.

“Rusty? What have you done?” she murmured as she watched him dart past her and bolt straight out of the cat flap.

She walked into Joy’s room to find Joy sitting up in her top bunk bed and looking concerned at Suzie, who was clutching a tissue to her hand. The box of gel pens scattered on the bedroom floor.

“Oh no……. what happened?” Anne said and moved across the room to inspect Suzie’s scratched hand.

“Rusty doesn’t like Suzie anymore Mummy” Joy said, looking worried.

“Why on earth would he not like you Suzie……. have you trodden on his tail or something”,

Suzie looked tearful “No……. I don’t know” was all she said.

“Come here, lets clean the scratch and I’ll put a plaster on you……don’t worry about Rusty, cats always have their own agenda……he has probably seen you petting next doors dog or something and has gotten the hump with you” Anne laughed, embarrassed that the cat had hurt Suzie.

Anne led her into the kitchen and sat her down in one of the kitchen chairs and got the first aid kit down out of the cupboard.

I hope you like the Blythe first aid kit?” Anne asked lightly, trying to lighten the mood. She gestured over it. It was a very impressive and extensive one, with a doctor living in the house it had to be. “Gilbert went to great lengths finding this…… it comes with its own defibrillator and life support system.” She laughed and Suzie smiled faintly, tears still in her eyes. “Don’t take it personally Suzie, he’s just a moody old cat……he can get quite possessive over Joy and Gilbert……he was found abandoned in a cardboard box when he was a kitten, can you believe that somebody had tried to gas the poor little thing” Anne shook her head in disgust as she gently cleaned Suzie’s hand. “He probably smelt the cardboard box that the pens were in and freaked” She offered as an explanation. “Bash, Gilberts brother rescued him from the Animals At Risk shelter and brought him here for Gilbert, to keep him company”. Anne paused but still held Suzie’s hand in hers. “Did you know that Gilbert nearly died a few years ago?” her eyes misted over as she remembered that awful time.

Suzie shook her head and sniffed.

“He went out to Asia, working for a charity, in a remote village. Helping the local women who were living in poverty to give birth safely and educating the local doctors and midwives. He saved dozens of women and babies in his short time that he was there……but he contracted an antibiotic resistant strain of typhoid whilst he was out there……...and we nearly lost him Suzie……”. Anne’s hand that was holding Suzie’s scratched hand started to shake as she remembered that awful telephone call from Diana. “……I thought he was going to die……. I thought he was going to die, without knowing how much I loved him”. Tears were now pouring down both of the women’s faces and Suzie reached out and held Anne in her arms.

“I’m so sorry Anne” Suzie mumbled “I can see how much you love each other”.

“He’s my love……my body and my soul Suzie…….I can’t breathe without him……I know I am a strong and independent woman…….but I cannot live without him…….I knew as soon as I heard how ill he was that I was in love with him and that I could not go on in this world without him in it” she sat up and wiped the tears away from her cheeks and smiled sadly. “I know I am not that much older than you, but If I can give you just one piece of advice Suzie…… it would be to make sure you tell the people that you love how you feel, because sometimes before you know it, it’s too late and it’s all taken away”.

Suzie pressed her lips together and nodded mutely. She knew that Anne had lost both of her parents when she was only 9 years old and had been through the foster system before she was adopted by the Cuthbert's.

“Anyway…..” Anne tried to brighten up “Bash bought Rusty for Gilbert when he was here, recovering from the typhoid. Gilbert lived here alone at that time of course, as it was before Joy was born and we had gotten our act together. So, he and Gil were completely inseparable for a time……Rusty……or ‘Carrots’, as he was called then….. was an important part of Gilberts recovery”. She smiled sadly again. “Gil told me that Carrots gave him something to live for, to come home for……Rusty has always been very protective of Gilbert and by extension of that, he’s also insanely protective of Joy too as she is basically a mini version of him”. Anne’s eyes glowed with pride as she thought about how much Joy was like her father.

“You have a wonderful family Anne” Suzie bit her bottom lip as Anne applied an antiseptic cream to the scratch “I very much enjoy being part of it…….you have welcomed me like a sister…….I can see why some people may be envious of you”.

Anne laughed lightly “I’m sure they would not be so envious when I am up five or six times a night with all three children and a husband who talks about medical procedures in his sleep”.

The two women smiled at each other.

“Now who will it be?....... Elmo or Kristof?” Anne asked holding up two different designs of plasters.

“Oh, definitely Kristoff……. every time” Suzie laughed as Anne applied the plaster.

“Thanks Anne”.

“You’re welcome……..now let me make you a cup of tea, I think that is the least I can do after you have been half mauled to death by my cat”.

As Anne turned her back to her to start making the tea, Suzie closed her eyes and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Chapter Text

That same afternoon, Gilbert watched Christine warily across the canteen.

She was sitting across the room from him and hadn’t seen him come in yet. He noticed that she was holding Joes hand under the table and she hadn’t taken her eyes away from his once. He knew what it felt like to be gazed at like that by Christine Stuart, he had once loved to look into her deep blue eyes and see them full of love for him, but now……now it just sent an unpleasant cold shudder down his spine.

She had been dating Dr Joe James from cardiology for a good while now and he had to say that every time he saw them together, they seemed totally loved up. Ron had even mentioned to him on many occasions how happy his sister was at the moment, that he had never seen her this happy before in fact.

She leant forward and kissed her boyfriend lightly and ran her hand along his thigh, they both giggled. Gilbert looked away quickly, not wanting to watch the antics of his ex, or more importantly be perceived to be watching them. He had a throbbing headache coming on and he hadn’t felt well all day. Just as he pinched the top of his nose to try to alleviate the pain, he felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Ron.

“Not having second thoughts about letting Chrissy go are we?” he joked.

“God NO!” Gilbert said a little too quickly and a little too horrified, forgetting for a second that he was talking to Christine’s brother.

He needn’t have worried. Ron burst out laughing and sat down next to him. “You should see your face, it’s hysterical”.

Gilbert just rolled his eyes and smiled “Sorry…...I didn’t mean to sound rude……I mean she is your sister” he slapped his palm against his forehead “Duh!......I’m such a doofus sometimes”.

“Chill out Gilbert…..it’s fine. I know you are on edge all the time she is anywhere near you, but let me reassure you. It’s not what you think……she’s really happy with Joe and she just wants to make amends with you for treating you so badly when she was dating you……. She even told me the other night that she was ‘walking on air, she was so in love’……...that she had spent the night with ‘the love of her life, just watching him sleep’……. I mean how absolutely nauseating is that?” he chuckled opening his lunch box and offering Gilbert a sandwich, who as usual had forgotten his own lunch and was just sitting there with a cup of coffee in front of him. Gilbert shook his head at the offered sandwich, his stomach churned slightly at the sight of it.

“That’s good to hear…...I do want her to be happy……. honest I do, I just don’t want to get too close ….as I know it will upset Anne”.

“But she knows that you two are reacquainted …. right?”

“Er” was all Gilbert said and blushed.

“You haven’t told her!”

“No”.

“Jeez man…….just tell her……..why haven’t you told her?” Ron watched him as he just fiddled with his coffee cup. “If you don’t tell her soon, it will become a ‘thing’…….and nobody wants a ‘thing’ in their marriage”.

Gilbert smiled.

“It’s not like you have got anything to hide, it’s not like you are meeting up in secret for coffees, or nipping off to watch Christine’s concerts without telling her, is it? You are not doing anything wrong.”

Gilbert shrugged “I guess not”.

“You are friends with your other ex-girlfriend, aren’t you? The one from Avonlea?”

“Josie?......yeah, I guess I am……. but that’s a bit different, we all grew up together and she is Anne’s friend too”.

“Well surely Anne and Christine were friends when you were dating her……. your best friend and your girlfriend?.......you must have done loads of things together.”

“No, not really” Gilbert said honestly “they never really got on…….I don’t want to sound big headed, but I think there was a fair bit of jealousy going on, on both sides…….so I just kept the two women in my life separate…….that was just the easiest thing to do. Christine would just always bitch about Anne. And Anne would just clam up and put the shutters down whenever I mentioned Christine or brought her along to an evening out or a get together with mutual friends. It was just too stressful. The two did just not mix”.

Ron pulled a face, but then smiled and put a reassuring hand on Gilberts shoulder. “Look, all that was in the past, people can change……look at you and Anne, you two used to be arch enemies I remember you telling me……. and now look at you……. loved up and married with three kids. Trust me Gilbert……Christine has really changed. You can be friends with her……..stop stressing about it…..and tell your wife for heaven’s sake…….Christine has totally moved on, and it is possible to be friends with an ex”.

Gilbert nodded and took a sip of his coffee, he put the cup down and Ron saw a mischievous twinkle in his friend’s eyes.

“Anne is very understanding about my ex’s……I even got my ex-girlfriend pregnant a few months ago……My wife was so proud of me; we had mind blowing sex that night” he said lightly.

Ron spat his tea out across the table, his eyes wide with shock. “I’m not kidding……. baby is due in four months……. I’m going to be a father again” Gilbert said with a straight face.

Ron spluttered and gasped for air as he nearly choked on his tea. Until he saw Gilbert grin at him.

“A Godfather that is of course……” Gilbert laughed cheekily “…….and I got her pregnant with her husband’s sperm using IVF”.

Ron punched him lightly on the bicep and laughed at him.

“You’re a wanker sometimes Blythe …….do you know that?”

“Yeah……...that’s what I said to Josie’s husband too”.

xx

Later that afternoon, Gilbert was just coming out of his office with a whole stack of paper work in his arms. Transferring all of the patients’ medical files he was due to have consultations with that afternoon to his office in the clinic downstairs, when he rounded the corner and bumped into somebody who was coming in the opposite direction. The files in his arms scattering all over the floor. He was surprised to see that it was Christine that he had bumped into.

“Sorry Gilbert…..I didn’t see you there…….are you……are you ok? You look terrible.” He heard Christine stammer as she bent down to help him collect the files off the floor.

‘Shit’ he mumbled, slightly vexed. His head had been banging all day, and since he had had that coffee at lunch time his stomach had been cramping painfully. He was already running 10 minutes behind schedule as he had been looking for his photograph of Anne that had been on his desk and had mysteriously gone missing and he had lost track of time. His stomach churned and a cold shiver swept over his body as he bent down to retrieve the scattered paperwork. His glasses nearly slipped off his face and he pushed them back up into his curls. He rested his hands and knees on the floor as he felt an intense wave of sickness sweep over him suddenly.

‘Shit’, he muttered again, not making an effort to pick the paperwork up anymore “I think I’m gonna be sick”.

“Oh!” Christine said, slightly startled. She quickly swept the paperwork away from underneath him, just in time as he threw up over the floor. His vomit splashed all over Christine’s dress, that was spread out all over the floor as she knelt in front of him.

“Shit…. I’m so sorry Chrissy” he said weakly, before turning green and throwing up again.

He had woken up in the middle of the night last night not feeling well after returning home from the lake with Anne, but had gotten up and gone into work anyway, thinking he could shrug it off. He hated letting his patients down.

He felt his brow and top lip moisten with a cold sweat and he sat back on his heals, his head pounding and he felt slightly faint.

“Are you ok?” Christine asked looking very worried.

“I dunno” was all he could say. His mind flitted back several years to when he had been coming down with typhoid. He remembered his symptoms, the searing pain in his guts, the headache, the sickness and diarrhoea. He remembered how his nose had bled, that was one of his last memories he had before he became so feverish that he had slipped into an hallucination filled coma.

His body started to shiver uncontrollably. As he sat on the hospital floor, Christine’s anxious face in front of him blurred as he felt the moisture on his top lip. His breathing became rapid as he started to panic. Shit…...was it the typhoid again? He had seen a therapist after his recovery, who had diagnosed that he was suffering with PTSD following his near-death experience, he was still haunted by some of the delusions and hallucinations he endured during the fever in his sleep even to this day.

He started to pant……his heart was racing……he couldn’t go through that again……he couldn’t do it……what about Anne and the children? …….what if he died and left them with no husband or father…….or worse than that……what if he had infected them with it……..what if they caught it……..he couldn’t lose Anne……or have to bury one of his children.

He lifted a shaking hand to his top lip, his eyes wide and terrified as he wiped the moisture away with the back of it, he was almost too frightened to check what the moisture was……if it was blood……it could be the typhoid again.

His vision was too blurry to see what it was, if it was clear or red.

“Is it red?......is it blood” he gasped desperately to whoever it was that he was with. He couldn’t remember who it was.

“No…..no….it’s nothing……its just sweat Gil” he heard a female voice say.

It was Anne. Anne was with him. Only Anne called him ‘Gil’. Initially relief swept over him, but then he began to panic even more. He didn’t want her anywhere near him. She could catch it from him, He shuffled away from her, backwards across the floor, until his back was pressed up against the wall.

“Don’t come near me…..” he gasped, desperate to catch his breath “I don’t want you to get it”.

“It’s ok……. it’s just a bit of sick” he heard her say “take deep breaths Gilbert, I’ll get you back to your office you will be fine, come on” she gently took his arm and helped him up of the floor.

He got up off the floor with remarkable ease. His limbs didn’t feel anywhere near as heavy as they had before when he had had the typhoid. He began to control his breathing, by taking slow regular breaths and the world began to come back into focus slightly.

He felt the woman’s arms guiding him back into his office and lying him down on his side on the couch in there. He heard her voice talking to somebody and then his office door closed. There was something familiar about the woman, it wasn’t Anne, he knew that now……. must be one of the nurses he presumed. He was so exhausted; he could feel sleep coming over him. The woman covered him over with a throw that was across the back of the couch and the warmth that it provided made his body relax and stop shaking. She comfortingly stroked his hair as he fell into a deep slumber.

Xx

He slept peacefully for two hours before he began to stir. He rubbed his eyes as he came back to consciousness, He stretched his aching body out and ran a hand through his hair, it felt dishevelled and slightly damp from the cold sweats he had been having whilst he slept. His stomach still ached but his headache was feeling a little better.

“How’s the patient doing?” he heard Christine say.

His eyes shot wide open, startled to hear her voice in his bedroom……what the fuck was she doing in his bedroom?

He suddenly realised that he wasn’t at home and in his own bed, but he was still at work in his office, lying on the couch.

“What?......where?......” was all he could confusedly say.

“You were sick Gil……so I brought you in here and you fell asleep, I’ve been keeping an eye on you is all” she said softly, concern in her voice. “How are you feeling?”

“Ok……I guess…..still a bit nauseous” he sat up weakly and looked at her. She was handing him a glass of water and was wearing a pair of blue scrubs. He noticed how they made her eyes look very blue. He had always liked her wearing blue as it made her eyes pop.

“What’s with the scrubs?” he asked confused.

“You were sick on my dress……. remember” she smiled, seemingly unfazed by it “So I found these in your closet over there and changed out of my dirty dress whilst you were sleeping……oh……I hope that’s ok……. should I not have?” she suddenly looked self-conscious and worried.

He sat up straighter and gratefully took a sip of the water. “Yeah, that’s fine……of course……I’m so sorry……I was sick on you, I remember now……. how embarrassing……. I’m so sorry”. He looked at his watch “Shit…..my patients……” he started to get up, but suddenly felt weak again as he did so.

“Oh no you don’t……...your registrar has seen them all for you……you are nowhere near well enough to be at work……. you should have stayed at home” she said pushing his shoulder down, so that he sat back down again.

“Ok…...thanks” he ran his hand through his hair again “Shit……I think I lost it there for a while…..” he blinked his eyes and shook his head softly “……I was shit scared it was the typhoid again”.

“You had a panic attack Gilbert, but I brought you in here and calmed you down and made sure you got the rest that you needed”.

“Thanks Chrissy……. that was very kind of you”.

Her heart beat wildly at him calling her ‘Chrissy’ again for the second time that afternoon. Christine was starting to feel like Harry Potter when he drank the good luck potion in ‘The Half Blood Prince’. She felt as if everything was going her way. After her lunch with Joe, she had been waiting around the corner from Gilberts office, waiting for him to come out and head downstairs to the clinic she knew he ran every Monday afternoon 2 -5pm. If Gilbert Blythe was anything, he was a creature of habit, Christine had been watching him closely, she knew his habits and his routines. He used to be half an hour late for everything that he planned, but these days he was much more punctual.

She had been hoping to just have a quick chat with him on his way down the stairs, maybe arrange to have coffee or lunch with him the following day. But when she had seen him looking as white as a sheet and rushing towards her, his arms full of paperwork, she would never have thought that he would suddenly become so ill in front of her. Good luck, or fate or whatever you wanted to call it seemed to be on her side and strengthened her resolve that she was doing the right thing in trying to win him back.

It was clearly meant to be.

Seeing him being sick, and being vomited on was well worth it for the couple of hours she got to be with him as he slept. She had had the chance to go all through his desk drawers and closet whilst he had been sleeping and take some photographs of herself in his office, she couldn’t wait for the time to be right to post those on social media. And had even curled up on the floor next to him and had rested her head against his knees as he slept. The spotty teenage temp who was covering for his dragon of a secretary who was still off sick (probably with the same bug he now had) couldn’t give a monkey’s that she had stayed in his office with him to keep an eye on him in case he was sick again. Christine had told the temp that she would ring his wife to come and collect him. Of course, she had no intention of doing that, the last thing she wanted was for Anne Shirley to come rushing in to the rescue. No Christine was going to be his saviour on this occasion. She would just blame the miscommunication on the clueless temp for Anne not being notified of her husband’s illness. Christine did not care if the temp got in trouble for something that was not her fault.

“And there’s no typhoid in Toronto Gil……I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that”. She smiled kindly at him and took his glass of water and refilled it for him. “I was sorry to hear that you had been so ill back then” she smiled sadly and blinked her eyes upwards to stop tears from falling, but a few escaped and rolled down her cheeks. “I was worried sick when I heard how ill you were”.

An old mutual friend from Kingsport had told her at the time of his illness about how desperately unwell he was. She had of course been beside herself with grief, even though she was married to Andrew by then. In fact, Gilberts illness was a contributing factor to the beginning of the end of her marriage, as Andrew had found her completely distraught, crying that ‘the love of her life was dying’. She hadn’t really cared that her marriage had started to crumble from that day on. Gilberts illness had made her realise how short life was……and she was more determined than ever to get him back.

“It’s all water under the bridge now…….in fact it was that that was the turning point in mine and Anne’s relationship…….it was nearly losing me that made her realise that she loved me” he fiddled with the tasselled edge of the throw she had covered him with.

Christine bristled at that, but hid it by shivering slightly and wiping a tear away from her cheek.

She forced a smile, “Well a guess I can have bragging rights there……I was right about you two” she laughed oh so softly, trying to hide the vehemence in her voice.

Gilberts pale cheeks, blushed slightly and he took a sip of his drink.

“Yeah…….I guess you were” he sighed and his shoulders relaxed. He looked at Christine and he could see that there was still some level of hurt in her eyes. ”You apologised to me for the way that you treated me with Andrew and everything……Well I think I owe you an apology too Christine…….I’m sorry for the way that I treated you too. When a relationship breaks down, it’s never just one person’s fault……. both people are responsible in a way……and although it will never excuse the cheating……if I had been more emotionally committed to our relationship, then we would have stood a better chance of going the distance” He smiled softly, his eyes beautiful and earnest “I’m sorry too Christine”.

She smiled sadly at him.

“What did I do wrong Gilbert?.......why was I never enough for you?” she asked quietly. The first vulnerable and honest question she had asked him, but one that had burnt an indelible mark upon her soul.

He closed his eyes, his head was staring to pound again, but he felt like he owed her an explanation. When he opened them again, his eyes were earnest and pained.

“This isn’t easy for me to admit, and I am sorry if it hurts your feelings even now….. when we have all moved on with our lives……but it wasn’t your fault Chrissy……but it was always Anne for me…..” he blushed “……It was always Anne that I loved, from the first day that I met her when we were 14, But you need to know when I told you I loved you…..I wasn’t lying, I did feel that……I just always loved her more…..I’m so sorry”. He whispered.

There was a long silence as Christine battled her tears and Gilbert watched her anxiously.

“But you did love me?”

“I did” he said softly and smiled wistfully at her, but looked away quickly, unable to maintain eye contact with her.

“And Like I said before……I love you too Gilbert”.

He noticed the present tense. ‘Love’ and not ‘Loved’. It was probably a slip of the tongue, or he had misheard her. She meant ‘loved’ ……. surely. he didn’t have time to dwell on it though as a wave of nausea swept over him again. He quickly untangled himself from the throw and dashed towards the bathroom in his office and threw up in the toilet, his head pounding again. He felt her hand rubbing soothing circles on his back.

“I need to get home” he said weakly, as he tried to get his breath back.

“The receptionist said she was going to call Anne to come get you…..you are not well enough to drive home”.

“That must have been hours ago……where is she?” he asked quietly, now sitting back from the toilet.

“I can drop you back if you want…..”.

She hadn’t even finished the sentence before he started shaking his head. She knew he hadn’t told his wife that they were ‘friends’ again. She had to admit that it thrilled her that he hadn’t told Anne about her being back in his life......he was hiding something from her……She was causing him to lie to his wife……. why would he do that, if all was as well as it should be in a happy marriage. Perhaps it was because he still had feelings for her…... Why else would he keep it a secret, break that loving, unspoken bond with his wife? She would soon have him breaking his vows as well. She smiled to herself.

“I’ll go check with the temp……to see why Anne isn’t here yet” she got up off the bathroom floor and walked through his office. She went outside and closed the office door behind her so He couldn’t hear what she said to the temp “Could you bring Dr Blythe and I a cup of tea please. He’s awake now” was all she said, before she turned back and returned to his side in the bathroom.

Gilbert looked up at her.

“This is kind of awkward……she said she rang her over two hours ago, and Anne apparently said she was busy and would pick you up later.” Christine faked a grimace as she saw hurt flash through Gilberts eyes. He remembered that she had told him that she had plans to meet Josie and have lunch and then go baby shopping with her. He didn’t understand……. surely, she would cancel her plans to come get him as he was ill.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you home?......you really are not well enough to drive” Christine offered again.

“No, it’s ok, I’ll call an Uber……. you have been kind enough today Christine…...I really don’t want to put you out any more”.

She heard the office door open and Christine turned to collect the tray of tea from the temp, who looked at her sourly. Julia, the temp liked Dr Blythe he was really kind, but she did not like this woman whoever she was, who bossed her around and treated her like she was her servant. She was surprised that Dr Blythe was friends with that bitch. She didn’t like it that she had locked the door when she had taken the sick doctor into his office - something didn’t sit right about it – and she had ordered her to clean the vomit up. Fortunately, Julia knew that one of the hospital janitors had do it, it was policy, due to infection control within the hospital.

Christine shut the office door again in the temp’s face. She did not want to risk Gilbert asking her about why Anne hadn’t turned up to collect him, and thus figuring out that his wife hadn’t been called at all.

“Come drink some tea Gil, I’ve put a spoon of sugar in for you”. He trembled a little as he walked back towards his couch and took the tea from Christine thanking her as he did so.

She put one hand on her slim waist, lent against the wall and smiled at him.

“I’ve missed you you know, I’m glad we are friends again”.

“You missed me throwing up on you?” he joked weakly.

“You always made me laugh……we did have a good time together, I know that that was all somewhat overshadowed by the way our relationship ended……but we did have lots of laughs” she grinned at him, and she saw his face relax.

“Do you remember that philopena we ate once?” she laughed and she raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a significant look.

Gilbert blushed and couldn’t help but laugh. A philopena is a game you play when you find a double kernelled almond or nut. He remembered Christine finding one when she was eating an almond one Christmas eve at his place. She offered the second kernel to him, as soon as he had taken it from her, she had laughed and demanded that he now was in her debt and owed her a forfeit of her choosing. He had spent the rest of the day as her sex slave until Christmas morning.

“Do you suppose I could forget it?” asked Gilbert, wishing rather that he could.

Christine looked wistful as she remembered that night. God, he had been amazing. He was always up for a challenge and that night he had most definitely not disappointed her. She had had him just about every way that there was. She was barely able to walk the following day, she also remembered how disappointing Andrew had been later on that Christmas day when she had flown home back to Montreal for the holidays. During that flight home, she had in fact decided to finally end things with Andrew that holiday, so that she could concentrate on her relationship with Gilbert. She knew it was him that she wanted, but when she had landed, she had turned her phone on and checked her messages that he had sent to her, to see a photograph of Anne and Gilbert sitting together on his bed in Avonlea wearing matching Christmas pyjamas. So instead of finishing with her fiancé, she went straight to his place from the airport and fucked him. He had never been anywhere near as good as Gilbert in bed though.

“Do you remember our picnic up the Arm?” she laughed, deciding to reminisce on a less raunchy memory, she didn’t want him to think she was coming onto him and disrupting the fragile truce they seemed to have established.

“Lol. Yes I do……the way that gull swooped down and stole the ham right out of my bread roll…..it was literally right in my hand……the cheeky bastard!” Gilbert laughed. a little colour returning to his grey face.

“And then you ran after it……. like you were ever going to catch a bird!......or want your ham back…..I think a little pee came out, I was laughing so hard at you” Christine laughed.

Gilbert chuckled and took a sip of his tea. “And there was that time that we went to that masquerade ball, and I dressed up as a Spanish lady in a black velvet dress…….and you as a newsie!......” he laughed. She had looked good in a pair of his trousers and suspenders wearing his baker boy hat. He stopped talking as he remembered the sex they had had that night. They both lapsed into a silence. Both remembering the same thing. Gilbert felt bad……he had wondered on many occasions both whilst he was dating her and after they had split up, if he had just been using her for sex. He always knew he loved Anne. He never felt anything close to that with any other girl…. sex had sometimes been good……. but again, it was nowhere near as good as it was with Anne. He loved his wife and they had an amazing physical relationship, both sexual and none sexual. He was a lucky man, he supposed that a lot of people never got to have or experience what he and Anne had together, it was quite honestly magical.

“I remember” she said tenderly at last, breaking his train of thought which as usual when he was with Christine Stuart may have started with her, but always went back to Anne…..it was always Anne.

He flipped the throw off his lap and carefully stood up “I’d better call that Uber, and get home before I need to throw up again”, he put his tea down on the desk and went to collect his phone from his desk.

He tapped away at it and she smiled to herself, she didn’t need to give herself away by trying to peer over his shoulder to see his passcode, she already knew it. Having that personal kind of knowledge somehow made her feel closer to him.

After he had ordered his taxi, he popped his head outside to talk to Julia.

“Hey Jules……I’m heading home now……thanks for your help this afternoon. If you aren’t here when I get back…...I just wanted to say you have done a great job……I’ll be giving you a good reference” he gave her a thumbs up.

“Thanks Dr Blythe” the teenager beamed at him “I hope you feel better soon”.

“Yeah, me too” he joked.

He closed the door and automatically reached for his jacket that he always left on the back of the door, before he remembered that it wasn’t there as he had mislaid it somewhere. Where the hell was all of his stuff going? It was like there was a gremlin in his office.

His phone buzzed to notify him that his Uber was here as he gathered his phone, keys and wallet that were on his desk and put them in his work bag.

He looked pale again and she saw him shiver.

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No honestly……I’m fine…….er grab your things though please, I need to lock the office…….confidential files and all are in here……you know GDPR and all that.” He chuckled slightly embarrassed that he had to chuck her out.

“That’s ok……no problem” she stood up and gathered her dirty dress and her hand bag and walked out through the door as he held it open for her.

They walked down the stairs together, chatting lightly. When they got to the main entrance where the taxi was waiting for him, He turned to her “Thank you Christine for looking after me……you have been a good friend to me today”.

“That’s ok……. any time you know that, that’s what friends are for”.

He lent forward to hug her briefly and she kissed him lightly on his cheek as they embraced.

“Oh” was all Gilbert said, not intending it to be that kind of a hug.

“Sorry” Christine laughed confidently “That’s what happens when you hug a girl who was raised in Montreal”.

“I guess…..thanks again…..bye” and he disappeared into the cab.

Christine watched as he drove off towards his home. She smiled to herself and ran a finger over her lips where she had just kissed him, she closed her eyes and imprinted the feel of his smooth cheek into her memory.

Her plan was starting to come together.

Soon he would be all hers, soon when he left work to go home it would be to her home.

Their home.

It was time, Christine decided. Time to put her long laid out plan into action. It was the award ceremony coming up and that would give her the perfect opportunity to get rid of the wife. She smiled smugly to herself, her accomplice had done a good job, they had wormed their way into a place of trust. It wouldn’t be long now until Dr Gilbert Blythe was hers.

Chapter Text

On the way home in the taxi he lolled his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. The heat was still stifling and he felt awful. His shirt was damp and his hair was sticking to his forehead. He wasn’t sure what he felt worse about, spending time with Christine or from the Norovirus currently circulating his system.

He remembered Ron’s words, he really wasn’t doing anything wrong, he was just being friendly, he was friends with his other ex-girlfriend Josie.

Gilbert opened his eyes and stared at the cab roof.

Who was he trying to kid.

He was doing one thing wrong. He knew that…… he was not telling his wife…..he knew that was wrong, but yet he couldn’t bring himself to tell her about Christine.

He groaned as another wave of sickness came over him and he rubbed his head. Christine had been really sweet to him today, and she did seem genuinely friendly towards him, …….if only he didn’t feel so guilty about not telling Anne.

He groaned again. This time in pure frustration with himself.

He made his mind up there and then. He was telling Anne, He would tell her as soon as she got home.

“You ok man?” the taxi driver asked anxiously, glancing at the sick looking guy in his rear-view mirror.

“Yeah…..I’m good thanks…….I just need to be home as soon as possible please bud”.

He felt the driver accelerate and within a couple of minutes he was clambering weakly out of the car and walking up the path to his apartment. His stomach was cramping and he knew he was going to be sick again. He walked past their parking spaces and was surprised to see that her car was parked there. He had assumed she must still be out with Josie as she hadn’t come to pick him up.

He fumbled with the lock and let himself in.

“Yay! Daddy's home” he heard Joy shout and heard her little feet running towards the door as she did every time he came home. He would normally rush to embrace her, but this time he dodged her and ran straight for the bathroom and threw up again.

“Gil?” he heard Anne’s surprised voice following him into the bathroom. He knelt by the toilet and loosened his tie and undid his top button. He placed his hand on the toilet seat and then rested his head on his hand.

“Gil?......are you ok?” she said anxiously, looking at the dishevelled mess that was her handsome husband. “My God you look awful”.

He looked up at her and she looked stricken. “What’s wrong Gil?”

“Norovirus” he whispered, returning his throbbing head to the toilet seat. “Nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and cramps, diarrhoea, fever and muscle pain……..or in short……I feel like crap”.

“How long have you been like this? Why didn’t you call me?.......please tell me you didn’t drive home like this?” she fretted, sitting down on the side of the bath and stroking his hair.

“Daddy poorly?” Joy said frightened, not liking to see her tower of strength and support weakened. She began to cry and forced her way between Anne and Gilbert as he still sat on the bathroom floor, so she could hug him. “Have you got a baby in your tummy is that why you are sick?” she asked her little wet face hopeful that that is all it was.

“No darling…….only Mummies can have babies in their tummies…….Daddy’s don’t” Anne explained.

“Why?” she asked as Gilbert relaxed down on to the floor a little more, looking sleepy again.

“Because ladies have a special organ in their bodies that looks a bit like a balloon in their tummies called a womb that babies grow in. Men, or daddies don’t have one, so it’s impossible for them to have a baby.

“Oh…..ok…….so why is Daddy sick then”. She wiped her tears away on her summer dress.

“I’ve just got some nasty bugs in my tummy Joy that are making me poorly……I will feel better later”.

“Did you not wash your hands Daddy after you had done a wee wee”.

Gilbert couldn’t help but smile, even though he felt awful.

“Probably sweetheart” he said getting up washing his hands and then splashing his face with cold water.

“Daddy must do it……Joy not want Daddy sick” she looked anxious. He made a mental note to try to not exhibit his own health anxieties in front of his children. He didn’t want them thinking he was dying every time he was sick.

“I’m ok Joy…….the human body is amazing…..it knows I have some nasty bugs in my tummy and so it is trying to make me get rid of them by making me sick. As soon as all the bugs or virus have come out of my body, I will start to feel better.”

“Promise?” Joy said looking a little brighter.

“Yes I promise…….”

“Daddy is a doctor darling……he knows how these things work” Anne added.

“Ok…….but wash your hands next time Daddy!” she said bossily and turned and left the bathroom.

“Come on lets get you into bed” Anne said with concern back in her voice.

He nodded and started to take his shirt off. She passed him some clean pyjamas and he put them on and climbed into bed.

“Why didn’t you get Julia to ring me……I would have come to get you” she said as she fussed over the covers.

“I thought she did” he said tiredly, his body was aching for sleep.

“No Gil……” she checked her phone for any missed notifications, she shook her head still looking at the phone “……nobody has called me.”

She saw his brow furrow; his eyes were closed and he yawned. “But she said…….she said you said you were too busy to come get me……..shopping”. He yawned again and snuggled down into bed, he was almost rambling and not making much sense, he was so tired.

“Shopping?” she questioned “I would have dropped everything and come to get you if I had known you were this ill Gilbert……. who told you I was too busy?”

“Alison……no…...no……” he yawned again, his eyes still closed and his breathing becoming deep and regular as he was only half awake. “Jules……. Ch……” he stopped himself “……...I can’t remember……...somebody at work”. His body finally relaxed and he fell into a deep sleep, leaving Anne feeling confused and her heart hammering.

Had he been about to say Christine?

Xx

When Gilbert woke several hours later it was to find Joy curled up between him and Anne, it wasn’t an unusual occurrence, the children often got into bed with them in the middle of the night. He suspected that Joy had been difficult at bedtime without him around to settle her, so Anne had given up and just let her sleep in their bed. The bedroom was all in darkness, so he must have been asleep for several hours. He did a quick mental check of his body; his headache had gone as had the stomach cramps and nausea. He still felt washed out though and his limbs ached. He knew he would have to take the following day of work. It was a 24-hour sickness policy.

He looked over to Anne she was sleeping peacefully on the other side of Joy, a few wisps of red hair falling across her face and her pink lips parted slightly as she breathed in and out deeply. One arm was exposed over the top of the covers and he could just make out a few of the freckles that he loved; the pink strap of her nightdress having slipped off her shoulder. He wanted to just roll over and kiss her shoulders and hold her. He loved her so much. A tear rolled down his cheek as he watched her and he bit his lower lip with his teeth as his chin began to wobble.

He knew he was going to have to tell her about Christine.

He was afraid of breaking her heart. He knew how quickly she always jumped to the worst conclusion possible or the worst-case scenario, it was in her nature. She had endured so much growing up……. losing her parents……feeling so utterly unwanted and unloved throughout her foster years…...had made her that way. She always expected the worst. Because throughout her formative years she had lived through the worst. ‘The worst’ had been her everyday reality and as she grew up, she had trained herself to expect nothing else but ‘the worst’, as then she would not have to endure the pain and disappointment that inevitably always came her way when she had allowed herself any form of hope.

His heart ached for her. He’d had the luxury of growing up with two parents that loved and adored him. He had never had to endure the heartache of feeling like nobody in the world loved or cared for him. He never felt lonely even though he was an only child. His parents had always made him feel like he was their priority, even when his father had been diagnosed with cancer and they had feared that he may not have long to live, they took it on as a family. The three of them against the world and latterly the four of them, when Bash came to live with them.

A strong unbreakable family bond……. And she had never had that.

He reached over Joys sleeping little form and tenderly stroked the wisps of hair off his wife’s face and tucked them behind her ear. She murmured slightly in her sleep and he quickly withdrew his hand as he didn’t want to disturb her.

He knew why he had not plucked up the courage to tell her about Christine. He was still afraid that she would over react and run. He closed his eyes as more tears rolled down his cheeks. There was still a small part of him, buried deep within his soul that was traumatised by the way she had just dropped out of his life after their first fateful visit to Antigua. When he had said he forgave her for the way that she had treated him then, he meant it. He wanted to move on and forget about it more than anybody. He did not want to hang onto all that pain and heartbreak. But saying it was a lot easier than doing it was. He knew that there were still occasions when she doubted him, still occasions when she thought the worst of him. He could see it in her eyes. It was just how she looked at him when they were in high school, and it sent a cold shiver down his spine. He loved her fire and the way that they always used to spar against each other and argue over silly insignificant things. But this was different. When her doubts flashed through her mind, he could almost see them. And it terrified him. He loved her so much, it had almost killed him back then, and since then he lived with a small sliver of fear always in his heart, that he was always only one major misunderstanding or argument away from losing everything that was important to him in his life.

His wife and children.

He took a shuddering sob, unable to suppress his emotions anymore and her eyes shot open as he cried into Joys hair.

“Gil?......what is it?” she asked, the moonlight reflecting in her eyes.

“I……I……” he sobbed.

Joy stirred between them, and they both froze. Nobody ever wanted to wake a sleeping child up in the middle of the night.

“Are you ok?.......are you feeling ok?” she asked her voice thick with sleep and concern.

He looked at her, her eyes wide and green and full of love for him, and for a moment it was on the tip of his tongue to tell her “I…….I……” was all he could utter again, that sliver of fear suddenly becoming a paralyzing wave of anxiety. His heart hammered and he knew he couldn’t do it. He was too afraid that they would argue, that it would get out of hand, that she would presume the worst of him a usual. That she would run, that she would leave him.

He gulped and took in a steadying breath “I’m ok” he whispered; his voice still full of emotion. She reached over Joy to him and stroked his curls and a funny look flitted through her eyes something shifted slightly.

“Go back to sleep…….you need your rest…….I love you Gil” she said, her voice sounding slightly strained.

He reached up with his own hand and gently took hold of hers that was in his hair, he brought it down to his lips and kissed her wedding and engagement rings.

He looked deeply into her eyes.

“I love you too Anne……don’t ever forget that……you are my everything”.

Her eyes softened and she smiled at him.

They fell asleep together, their hands still laced together over their daughter.

Xx

When he woke up the following day it was nearing noon and he felt significantly better. He stretched out in the bed. It was not very often that he had the bed to himself, he always had to get up before Anne, and never went to bed without her. He sighed as he ran his hand over her pillow and pulled it towards him and hugged it to his chest, he breathed in the smell of her shampoo and closed his eyes.

Maybe he was making too big a deal of the Christine thing? He knew that he was doing nothing wrong. Christine was just a friend. Anne had had a friendship with Jack before he revealed his true colours. Maybe he didn’t have to tell her about Christine……it would only distress her and cause friction between them. They had the awards evening tomorrow night, they had both been looking forward to that, a weekend away together as such, even though the awards were taking place in Toronto. They had a room booked in the hotel where the award ceremony was taking place and Suzie had said that she was happy to stay over at theirs and look after the kids. He had been worried yesterday when he had taken so ill that he would not be well enough to attend the event. But he was sure now that they would be able to go ahead with their plans, and he didn’t want all of this Christine nonsense to blow up just before the awards.

Little did Gilbert Blythe know that he had just made a decision that he would come to bitterly regret for the rest of his life.

Chapter Text

“Are you nervous?” Anne asked him excitedly in the back of the black limousine that had been sent to collect them.

“I’m not going to win it Carrots, some of the other nominees have done some amazing work, and are much older and more deserving of the award than I am. I’m just flattered to be nominated; it will do wonders for my career……look great on the old curriculum vitae.” He chuckled but never the less rubbed his sweaty palms up and down his tuxedo clad thighs, and then rubbed the back of his neck in a gesture that Anne knew was an anxious one. “We can just enjoy a nice grown up meal together……have a few grown up drinks together……..have a few grown up dances together……..and then enjoy a few grown up activities in our hotel bedroom together”. He punctuated each part of his sentence with a frustratingly light kiss.

She smiled against his lips and pulled him in for a deeper kiss. He looked incredibly handsome. His skin deeply tanned from the warm summer weather they were enjoying in Toronto, which made his eyes look lighter, almost ethereal. His chocolate curls had been trimmed by his barber who Anne was sure had a crush on him as he never charged him for a haircut, he just always wanted to take photographs of his work on Gilbert to advertise his services on Instagram. His hair always looked beautiful, whether it was long and a little on the scruffy side or neatly barbered as it was tonight. She reached behind his ear and toyed with the little piece of hair that always curled up behind it and would never lie flat. He loved it when she touched or kissed him behind his ears, he would instantly turn to putty in her hands. It was the second most sensitive part of his body and she knew it. She had often teasingly toyed with it when they were out and in company, lightly caressing him with her fingertips, in a seemingly innocent gesture, but knowing what effect it would have on him. She had even taken to ever so softly and quietly creeping up behind him and started kissing him just behind said ear when he was at home on a call to his boss Tony Appleguard. He had let out an involuntary groan on one occasion and had to blame the noise on the cat when his boss had enquired as to ‘what in heavens name was that groaning noise?’. He had made her pay for that once he had gotten off the phone. She smiled as she remembered how he had chased her around the house that afternoon.

As if he could read her mind he pulled back and looked her up and down with an arched eyebrow “You look most beautiful Mrs Blythe……” he whispered reverently “you are my angel incarnate…...I shall be the envy of every single guy in Toronto tonight……I shall have to guard you with my life from many a smitten swain” he smiled proudly at her. She was wearing white dress that had a solid lace bodice that laced up corset like at the back, but the sleeves and skirt were made of white tulle. The sleeves were made up of just one delicate layer of organza that was almost transparent, showing off her milky arms, the angel sleeves falling gracefully just below her wrists. The short skirt was full, comprised of several layers of floaty bias-cut organza which fell just above her knees. She wore a fine golden chain with three little diamonds on it, around her neck, which Gilbert had bought for her after she had given birth to Walter. Her hair was left long and loose, styled in gentle waves. A pair of her signature Louboutin’s on. He had had an instant reaction to her when he had seen her all dressed up and ready to go out. A reaction that had made them late and having to get dressed again, it was only when they were half way to the ceremony that he realised he had left his phone and wallet at home in the rush to leave the house. They had decided between them though that It didn’t matter, as Anne had hers should Suzie need to contact them regarding the children, and everybody else who knew him, knew where he was tonight.

They checked into the hotel and were shown to their room. They quickly just left their bags there and then returned to the reception hall where the awards were taking place. They were directed by the event hosts to pose for a few photographs together a female member of the public even appeared and asked Anne to sign her copy of Diamond Sunbursts for her. Gilbert offered to take a photograph of the fan and Anne together. Anne’s heart swelled with love for her husband. This was his special night, it was supposed to be all about celebrating him and his achievements, but here he was again, happy to let her shine.

The first hour of the event was pretty much taken up with networking. Doctors, academics and alumni from the Canadian Medical Association mingling and chatting, often telling all sorts of horror stories, “Dr Phelps here once had a patient with a goitre as big as a……’ or ‘Francis Docherty thought he had discovered the cure for flu last year……..only to discover later that his results of his seven yearlong study had been skewed by a simple multiplication error in the first week of his research……’ and ‘You should have seen the amount of teeth and hair in the cyst we removed……it looked like Animal from the Muppets’.

Anne and Gilbert laughed along accordingly until they were eventually steered towards their seats for the fine dining experience part of the evening. “Can you see why I don’t come to these events very often Carrots?” he whispered in her ear as he drew her chair out for her to take at their table and raised an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes at him and smiled; she didn’t care where she was as long as she was with him.

They had almost finished their desserts when the first message came through to Anne’s phone. It vibrated silently on her lap.

[Suzie]: I’m really sorry to bother you Anne, but I thought I ought to tell you that I think Joy is coming down with the sickness bug.

Anne frowned as she saw the message and quickly tapped out a response under the table. Gilbert was engaged in a conversation with one of the CMA committee members who was sitting on his other side.

[Anne]: Oh no! How is she? Has she vomited.

[Suzie]: (…)

[Suzie]: (…)

Anne frowned again, getting worried and wondering what the delay was.

[Suzie]: Yes. Twice and she is crying for you.

Anne raised an eyebrow, that was unusual for Joy, everything was always about Gilbert when it came to Joy, it was always him she wanted, even when she was quite well, but she was even more clingy to her father when she was ill.

[Anne]: Oh. that’s surprising. I must be doing something right at last. I will see if I can get away early and come home. I do not expect you to stay and look after her when she is throwing up. Never mind, I will be home in about twenty minutes.

[Suzie]: I’m sorry

[Suzie]: to spoil your evening that is

[Anne]: That’s ok…….as ever thank you Suzie for everything that you do. I’m so glad we have you to depend on.

Anne tucked her phone away in her purse and pushed her chair back, she put her hand on Gilberts arm to get his attention and he turned and looked at her.

“Is everything ok?” he asked immediately, knowing that look on Anne’s face.

“Suzie has just texted……Joy is sick”.

“Oh no!......We’d better go” he started to push his chair back to and turned to make his apologies to the committee member next to him.

She put her hand on his arm again. “No Gil……you need to stay……. this is your night. I can look after Joy……”

“But……” he interrupted.

“Its only a sickness bug…..she will be fine, no need for you to worry…….”

“But it’s Joy, she will want me” he said concerned for his daughter and wanting to be the one to comfort her.

“Well according to Suzie, she is crying for Mummy tonight” she said playfully as she stood up.

Gilberts eyebrows shot up and Anne laughed at him. “Maybe the reign of King Daddy is over” she raised a challenging eyebrow at him “Maybe it’s my turn to be our daughter’s favourite at last” she laughed.

Gilbert stood up with her and grinned at her “Never……. you of all people should never underestimate the power of the Blythe charm” he winked at her and his eyes twinkled charmingly at her in that way that he seemed to be able to make them.

He put his hands on her waist and pulled her close to his body and kissed her lightly on the lips, he felt her tremble under his hands. “Not so ‘immune’ now are we Miss Shirley” he laughed.

She grabbed hold of the lapels of his tux and pulled him towards her. She sighed and glanced down from his eyes to his lips, and then back up to his eyes again. She pressed her body against his and kissed him lightly. His eyes were dark as he gazed down at her. “That is very true……. I am now a sucker for the Blythe charm……I have fallen…...hook……line…….and sinker….”, She kissed him between each word “……. but you are forgetting one very important thing Dr Blythe……I’m a Blythe too now”. She gave him a teasing smile, just like he often gave to her “And I can be just as charming as you” she said playfully and raised her nose up in the air and bit her bottom lip with her teeth, in a move that she knew he found very sexy.

“God, Carrots…….I have been looking forward to having you all to myself all night for weeks now” he practically whined leaning down and kissing her temple.

“I know…….so was I……. just to lie in bed until 9am and not be woken by a child jumping on our bed”.

“Well, you could have lied in bed until 9am……. but I would have probably jumped you on more than one occasion by then” he smiled.

Her phone buzzed again.

[Suzie]: She’s just been sick again.

“I’ve got to go Gil”.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come, what if its more than a sickness bug…….I haven’t got my phone, how will you contact me?”

“Well lets swap…….you keep mine here with you and then I can ring it using yours if I need to” she got her phone back out of her purse and dropped it into his inside pocket of his tux jacket.

“Ok……if you are sure……I’ll get a cab home though, I won’t stay here without you” he gave her his puppy eyes.

“I am sure. Now finish your meal and you can stay here if you want to. You will only get woken up by Joy throwing up every twenty minutes at home……you might as well stay; we have paid for the room. Enjoy your night Gil……you deserve it”.

“I’ll see how I feel……let me get you a cab”.

They walked together hand in hand to the bank of taxis outside the hotel lobby.

He turned to her and held both of her hands in his just before she got into the cab. “You look so beautiful…..I’m gutted that you have got to go”.

She ran a hand through his hair, kissed him lovingly “me too”. She smiled softly “But we are parents now and I would not change that for the world, and unfortunately things like this happen when you have three children”.

They heard a buzzer go off, indicating that the awards service was beginning.

They kissed again and she jumped into the cab and disappeared. Leaving him standing alone on the curb side, his hands in his pockets as he watched her drive away. He turned somewhat forlornly to walk back into the hotel only to see Christine sweeping down the hotel staircase in a lavish, figure-hugging strapless red gown. She looked up and noticed him as he wandered back into the hotel reception area and gave him a dazzling smile.

“Gilbert……Hi” she said breathily. Her hand flying up to her hair as she twirled a long dark strand between her fingers from root to tip. Most people would say that Christine’s crowning glory was her hair, it was long and dark and as shiny as silk and curled softly at the ends that tumbled about her shoulders and breasts, that were spilling out over the top of her dress. Gilbert had to admit that she did look pretty. Not a patch on Anne though, Anne was an ethereal, untouchable, force of nature beauty. Not an ‘I have been in the salon for the last two weeks getting everything pumped, pimped pummelled, sutured, sucked or sculptured’ kind of beauty like Christine was.

“Er Christine…….what are you doing here?” he asked confused and taking a step away from her.

“I’m here with Joe silly” she grinned “You know……my boyfriend? I can tell you have been spending too much time with Anne Shirley……. always so self-obsessed all the time” she giggled. Gilbert gave a false laugh. He had forgotten how passive aggressive she could be about Anne all the time.

A stressed-out looking hotel employee wearing a radio headset rushed towards them and started ushering them back into the banqueting hall as they could hear people clapping as the awards had started to be given out.

“Now make sure you save me a dance later Dr Blythe” she smiled pleasantly at him and touched his arm lightly.

Gilbert nodded, and cleared his throat. But couldn’t quite bring himself to say ‘Yes’.

She diverted off to a table at the back of the room where an annoyed looking Joe was sitting waiting for her.

Had she been sitting there at the back of the room all night?

Gilbert panicked slightly. What if she had bumped into Anne?

“Shit…...” he mumbled to himself and went back to take his seat at the front of the hall. “That was fucking close”

xx

Suzie sat crouched on the floor in the darkness of Joy and Jem’s room hugging her knees to her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She looked at the two little peaceful faces sleeping in the lower bunk bed together. Joy always climbed into bed with her little brother when her parents went out together. It was completely heart-warming the way that they snuggled up together. All three of the children that she looked after were delightful and despite trying very hard not too, she had grown to love them very much.

In fact, she had grown to love the whole Blythe family very much.

Which was why she was crying.

It broke her heart to do what she had been doing for the last year or so. She knew that everything was going to come to a head this evening. She had felt sick to her stomach all week, waiting for tonight……. knowing that their world was soon to be ripped apart.

Chapter Text

Two hours earlier, Christine had taken her seat next to Joe, they had slipped in just as the starters were being served. She had made him late to the awards ceremony on purpose as she didn’t want to be there for the drink’s reception, just in case Anne had seen her there. As far as Christine was concerned, tonight was all about timing. She had waited a long time for tonight, when she would be able to hold him in her arms once again.

Her boyfriend Dr Joe James had been really annoyed with her, for taking her time curling her hair and reapplying her makeup. She didn’t really care though; he didn’t know it but she was going to dump him tonight anyway of course. She had learnt her lesson the first time – she knew that Gilbert would only want to be with her when she was single – she would make sure that he knew that she had broken up with Joe. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. Joe had been an unwitting part of her plan all along. She had been thrilled when he had shown a romantic interest in her. Ron’s already established friendship with Gilbert and going out with Joe had given her almost unlimited access to him over the last year or so, a realistic excuse for her to be regularly at the hospital.

As the awards were being hosted in Toronto all of the top surgeons from Toronto General had been invited to attend so once again, Joe had proved to be most useful, she knew that tonight would be the perfect time for her to make her move, to put her plan into action.

She had laid the groundworks. She had planted plenty of doubts in Anne’s mind and now it was time.

Time to make all of Anne Shirley’s worst fears become a reality.

xx

Joe’s annoyance had only increased when all his girlfriend could do was stare at Dr Gilbert Blythe and his wife all evening. And if she wasn’t staring at the handsome obstetrician across the room, she was texting furiously on her phone. It was as if he didn’t even exist, if he tried to start up a conversation with her, she would just immediately shut it down or tell him to shush. Christine had told him of course that Dr Blythe was her ex, and that he had been controlling and jealous all the time, so she had ended their relationship. But her behaviour lately had made him start to wonder what the truth actually was. He was not a mental health care professional, but he sometimes wondered about her sanity. She seemed to be able to spin a lie at a moment’s notice, without even thinking twice about it. Everybody he knew at the hospital who knew Dr Blythe, couldn’t say enough nice things about him, he was starting to wonder if Christine’s testimony had any truth in it whatsoever.

Joe followed Christine’s eyeline as she watched Mrs Blythe suddenly stand up after checking her phone. He also observed, how Christine’s eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched as Dr Blythe stood up and kissed his wife, his hands on her waist. Christine’s cheeks flushed as Anne Blythe pulled her husbands jacket towards her and they kissed each other again. Both smiling at each other, love radiating from their eyes as if there was nobody else in the room. Christine snatched her phone up off the table and angrily shot another text off, slamming her phone back down on the table. Even the other diners at their table were starting to mutter at her strange behaviour, Joe crossed his legs under the table and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He noticed Mrs Blythe check her phone again and then they both left the room together, Gilberts hand protectively resting on the small of his wife’s back as they exited the banqueting hall.

He breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that they had left for the evening, hopeful that Christine would relax. Christine suddenly stood up and excused herself a couple of minutes after the Blythe’s had left and headed out of the hall in the same direction that they had exited. Joe shook his own head. She obviously was still obsessed with her ex…….that was only the explanation for her behaviour. He didn’t know what the hell was going off between them, but as he watched her a few minutes later re enter the hall chatting and smiling with Gilbert Blythe, her face glowing and her eyes glittering, he knew that tonight would be the last evening that he would spend with her.

Xx

Gilbert was stunned.

He sat there in his seat as the room around him erupted as his name was called out, the committee members and senior hospital management sitting at his table immediately stood up and applauded him, as he sat there gaping like a fool. The rest of the room around him joined in and before he knew it, he was surrounded by a standing ovation.

He sat glued to his seat as Tony Appleguard, waved in the direction of the stage, indicating for him to get up and go and receive his award.

He stood up awkwardly and buttoned his tux jacket up. He was painfully aware of the empty seat next to him, her half empty glass of wine with her lipstick mark on it still sitting next to his on the table. He glanced over at it, gutted that his wife had missed this amazing moment in his career. Canadian Doctor of The Year.

His cheeks were flushed and he was all smiles by the time he was up on stage and being handed the heavy glass award. He made a quick speech where he thanked all those who had supported him in his career and thanked the team that he had worked with at The Toronto General, emphasising that although it was him standing here alone on stage receiving the award, he was only a small part of a team of excellent surgeons and nurses, and he could not have accomplished the outcomes that he had without them. He thanked the families that he had worked with, for their bravery and faith in him. But more than anyone, he thanked his wife, for her unfailing love and support, without whom he would not be the man that he is today and who constantly pushed him to be a better version of himself. He explained that his wife was also a wonderful mother and had given up an evening out to go home and look after their sick daughter, he added that ‘he hoped that somebody was filming his speech…...so that he could show it to her later’. And then gave the audience a cheeky wink and a dazzling smile and made them all laugh.

xx

From where he was standing at the front of the room on the stage, Gilbert didn’t notice Christine’s jaw tense and her hands fiddled anxiously with her napkin, at the loving way he spoke about his wife, twisting the napkin around in her hands.

She fucking hated Anne Shirley. That bitch had ruined her life as far as she was concerned. It if wasn’t for her, Gilbert Blythe would be standing on the stage looking at her lovingly, saying what a wonderful woman she was, how she had supported him. She would be Mrs Christine Blythe, the good doctor’s wife. She calmed herself, even though she was inwardly fuming……it was standard practise to thank one’s family during these sorts of speeches……. he probably wasn’t even thinking about Anne. She already knew that their marriage wasn’t as perfect as they both seemed to like to make out. It was all for outward show.

She made a grab for her phone and her napkin that were lying on the table and stuffed them into her handbag as she made to move towards Gilbert as he made his way back to his seat from the stage, people around them still whistling and clapping.

Joe caught hold of her wrist.

“Where are you going?” he asked, knowing the answer.

She turned and looked at him, her dark blue eyes seemed black and emotionless, making a cold shiver shoot down his spine.

“Nowhere that is any concern of yours……oh and by the way we are done now”.

“What?”

She pulled her arm out of his light grasp, no emotion on her face. “I said we are done….over……I’m done with you” she said almost politely, like she was discarding an old screwed up bit of paper in the trash.

“What?......just like that?......we have been together for over a year Christine.!”

“Oh?.......I didn’t realise it was that long. Makes no difference though. Bye Joe…….”. And with that she moved across the room and threw her arms around Gilbert Blythe as he was sitting down in his seat. Joe walked out of the banqueting hall and straight to the deserted hotel bar, ordering himself a stiff drink. He couldn’t help but feel a mixture of emotions. The strongest one was relief, which surprised him. But underneath that ran a strong undercurrent of concern, concern for Dr Blythe and his family.

xx

Gilbert felt her arms wrap around him as he went to sit back down in his seat. He had been barraged by friends and colleagues offering their congratulations, hugs and well wishes, so he didn’t think too much of it as she hugged him hard, pressing her body into his. She kissed him lightly on the cheek, and he stepped back from her, trying to put some space between them.

“Gilbert……I am so proud of you, I knew you could do it” she grinned up at him, her arms still around his body as a tear rolled down her cheek. Gilberts award had been the last to have been presented, so now people were getting up from their seats and starting to mingle. “All those hours of studying at Redmond…..every sacrifice you ever made has paid off…..I’m so utterly thrilled for you…..you are an amazing man”.

“Thanks Christine……”

“Let’s get a drink to celebrate……..”

“Erm……maybe later......I just need to…….”

“Oh, come on for old time’s sake Gil……. don’t forget how I supported you for over two years to help you get to this point……how many hours did I spent studying with you……testing you?.......I think the least you can do is let your old friend buy you a drink……. besides, Joe and I have just decided to call it quits” she sighed heavily and looked quickly away from him, as is she was trying to control her emotions “I could do with a good friend and a few drinks myself” she looked back up at him, her eyes wide and blue.

The party was really starting now, a DJ had started playing and some of the younger guests had already taken to the dance floor. “Ok……I guess”.

She led him out of the banqueting hall and towards the bar, she didn’t ask him what he wanted to drink, she knew him well enough to know it would be whiskey. She went to the bar to get his drink and left him clutching his award to his chest and being congratulated by the team that he had worked with on the Spina Bifida surgery, his smile was wide and his eyes glittered as they all shook his hand and hugged him. One particularly burley anaesthetist, picked him up and carried him around on his shoulders, people around him clapping and laughing at their antics. She carried the drinks to a small side table where she put the drinks down and turned her back on the now darkened room, she checked casually over her shoulder to make sure that nobody was watching her as she tipped a small amount of powder into his drink from a small sachet that had been in her palm. Everybody was watching Gilbert being carried around the room. Again, she congratulated herself on how lucky she was that a distraction had naturally occurred. It only strengthened her resolve; they were destined to be together……. that was obvious, the Gods it seemed were definitely on her side. She had carefully researched which drug to administer to him, she didn’t want to make him lose complete consciousness for too long…...that would do her no good. She just needed enough of the chemical in his system to make him lose his inhibitions and confuse him a little, just enough for him to make a few bad decisions that he would not normally make if he were fully aware. Just enough that he would not remember what had actually happened tonight.

She handed him his drink once she had observed the last of the powder dissolving in it, and he downed it on one go, and his friends cheered him.

She knew now it was a matter of timing, leaving just long enough for the drug to work its way through his system before she could make her move, but not leaving it too long before it started to work its way out of his system and he became fully aware again.

She stepped back from his crowd of friends and took out her phone, she began tapping away on it, setting the next chain of events in action. She had gotten rid of his wife, but what she needed now…….when the time was right……. was for his wife to return to the hotel.

Chapter Text

Anne let herself back into their apartment. She was surprised to find it in complete darkness and utterly silent. She had expected all hell to be breaking loose. Children awake, Joy crying and throwing up, Suzie stressed.

But no, it was completely still and silent.

She got an eerie feeling creep over her that something wasn’t right.

Her fingers felt around the wall for the light switch and she flicked it on.

“Suzie?” she whispered. Perhaps Joy had settled down again and was sleeping it off.

She thought she heard a sniffling noise coming from the children’s bedroom so she quietly pushed the door open.

“Suzie?” she whispered again. She instinctively checked that the children were ok first. Joy was cuddled up in bed with Jem as she always did when they went out, both of their little faces relaxed, deeply and peacefully asleep. Anne’s brow furrowed, confused. Was Joy ill? She didn’t look it. She noticed that she was still wearing the same little pink nightdress that she had been wearing when she and Gil had tucked her into bed earlier on before they went out. She hadn’t been sick on her clothes, when three year olds were sick, it was normally all over their clothes.

She heard the sniffling again and glanced over towards where the noise was coming from. She saw Suzie’s figure silhouetted crouching in the corner of the room.

“Suzie……. what’s going on?.....what on earth is the matter?” she asked anxiously, panic staring to set in.

Suzie just sniffed again and released a small sob.

Anne felt fear clutch at her heart and she dashed into the nursery next door to check on Walter. She picked her sleeping baby up and held him tightly in her arms, checking him over. He was breathing softly and evenly and after a few moments of burying her face into his little chest to calm herself down she put him back down in his cot and turned back around to see Suzie standing in the illuminated hall way.

Suzie wiped a tear away from her face and walked into the living room, turning one of the side lamps on as she did. She sat on the couch and hugged her arms around her body. She was unable to meet Anne’s gaze.

Anne tried to keep her calm, she wanted to shake the young woman to get some sense out of her, but she knew that that would probably only distress her even more. She sat down next to her and put her hand kindly on her arm. A gesture that only made Suzie cry even more.

“What is it Suzie…….please tell me…….I’m frightened……..are the children ok?” her breath hitched as her heart raced.

“Yes……they are absolutely fine……. this isn’t about them…….” She swallowed deeply and wiped a tear from her chin “……. I’m sorry……I lied to you…...” she stammered, her voice sounding strained and unlike her own voice. “I lied to you to get you to come home…..I……I needed to talk to you on your own…… without him here……” she started crying again as Anne froze rigid on the couch next to her.

Anne removed her hand from Suzie’s arm “Him?” she questioned “You mean Gilbert?” she could hardly speak. Her breath seemed to have escaped her lungs and time seemed to slow down, everything was suddenly in slow motion.

Suzie nodded; she still could not look up at her. She covered her face with her hands.

Anne felt all the colour drain out of her face and she felt like she was going to be sick.

“He……he hasn’t hurt you has he?” Anne could barely believe that that question had fallen out of her lips.

Suzie paused for a few seconds. The longest few seconds of Anne Shirley’s life.

Suzie shook her head and sobbed; her body racked with tears.

Anne heard Gilberts forgotten phone beep from somewhere within the house with an incoming text message making Suzie jump. Anne ignored it.

“Suzie…..please just tell me what is it…..what is it that he has done that you could not say with him here?”

The distraught young woman pressed her fingertips into her closed eyes as she tried to stem the tears. She suddenly took a deep breath and placing her hands down on her thighs, she seemed to brace herself and looked up at Anne. Her deep blue eyes blood shot and swollen with tears, her eyes looked guarded and she took another deep breath before glancing away and saying.

“I have discovered that your husband is having an affair”.

Suzie eventually plucked the courage up to look back at Anne. She sat frozen on the sofa, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open, her hands resting limply in her lap as her world fell apart. The pain that shot through her green eyes, was something that Susan Baker would never forget, and she began to cry again.

Anne’s eyes were fixed on Suzie, but were unseeing, until eventually she whispered.

“What?”

Suzie gulped again.

“He has been sleeping with…….with a woman called Christine…….I saw them in his office……kissing…..and…….and having sex…….and I believe that she was here when you were in Paris too” she almost whimpered.

Gilberts phone beeped again, but this time Anne hardly heard it……she had so much information screaming through her brain, she could barely see, hear or breath.

Her hand flew to her mouth and she rushed to the toilet and was sick, her stomach purging itself of its entire contents in one go. She sat by the toilet panting, almost unable to breath. She felt like she was drowning again in the Lake of Shining Waters, except there would be no handsome Gilbert Blythe to pull her out of this hole that she was sinking into this time. No, this time it felt as if it was he who had his hand on her head as she was drowning, pushing her further down under the dark suffocating waters.Her beautiful white dress splayed out around her knees as she knelt on the bathroom floor, almost making a mockery of her. They had started the evening off so lovingly together. She couldn’t believe that this was happening.

Her heart was racing and the tears suddenly engulfed her, overwhelming her, spilling down her cheeks. Huge shuddering sobs leaving her chest as her heart broke.

She had been shoving all of the warning signs to the back of her mind for too long now, coming up with every excuse and reason to explain away all of the small pieces of evidence she had noticed over the last few months, trying to come up with every solution but the obvious one. Because she couldn’t bear to even think or contemplate what that obvious one was.

Gilbert was having an affair……..with Christine.

That was the only answer to all of those questions and doubts she had been having. That was the answer to all of those little questions that had been rattling around in the back of her mind. All of those small pieces of a puzzle that had gradually been building up right in front of her own nose, now fell heartbreakingly into place. How could she have been so stupid as to sweep them all under the carpet for so long?

They say that ‘love is blind’ and they were right. He had blinded her with so much love, that she had failed to see what was going on right in front of her nose.

She started to lose her breath, panting. She couldn’t breathe. She was having a panic attack as her mind spiralled out of control and her world began to crumble around her. She clutched onto the side of the bath as she tried to calm herself down. He always calmed her down when she was like this……. she needed him……she couldn’t breathe without him……...she would never breathe again. This always happened……. she always lost whatever it was that she loved……she had always known that eventually this would happen……. that he would be taken away, one way or another……. leaving her with a gaping wound in her chest that would never heal. Her heart raced harder and her vision started to blur.

Xx

Gilberts vision started to blur and he suddenly felt very drunk. He blinked his eyes to try and clear his vision and shook his head slightly, he felt really weird. He staggered slightly to the side and Christine managed to catch his elbow to steady him.

“Woah there Gil…….I think you’ve had a little too much to drink”. She purred in his ear, her breath warm on his neck and just behind his ear, sending goose bumps down his spine in an unpleasant way.

“I….I……haven’t had that much……” he stuttered, trying to remember what he had had to drink that night, but he couldn’t remember. His brain was just a fog. Where was Anne again? He tried hard but he couldn’t remember. He leant harder onto Christine. The noises around him suddenly seemed amplified, people chatting and laughing, glasses clinking and the dull thud of EDM music in the background, suddenly seemed deafening, increasing his confusion. He couldn’t think straight.

“Quiet……” he uttered “…….I need quiet” he put his hands over his ears, and he felt himself being led away from the party as the world around him started to spin, he closed his eyes to stop from throwing up.

He felt some soft cool fingertips running soothingly through his hair and curling behind his ear, as she stroked the oh so sensitive spot behind his ear. He placed one hand on the wall of the elevator to steady himself and opened his eyes just to see the lift doors closing in front of him a sensation of a sudden upwards movement swept over his body as the lift started its journey upwards.

“Shush Gil” Christine’s soothing voice cooed “We will get you back to your room, let’s get you into bed, you’ve had a big night you silly goose……..you never did know when to stop when you were partying”.

Gilbert was starting to lose the ability to speak as well as the ability to think.

He felt her hand in his inside jacket pocket as he clung onto her and the lift wall in a struggle to just stay upright, his head was spinning. She pulled out his room key card and Anne’s phone from his pocket. She looked at the lock screen photo of him and the kids on it on it before casually dropping it on the floor and stepping on the screen and grinding into it with her stiletto high heel, until it’s screen was cracked and shattered, the photo of his smiling face glitched out a few times under the assault of her heel and then flickered and turned dark as the phone died.

They staggered out of the lift, and towards his room, he was leaning more heavily on her by the minute as the drug she had given him kicked in. She let him lean up against the hotel room door, whilst she fumbled with the key in the door. He groaned loudly and she looked over her shoulder to check that nobody was around to witness how drugged he was. Her phone beeped with an incoming text message; she knew who it would be from. She now knew that she only had about twenty minutes to set the scene.

The green light on the door flashed and she pressed the handle open and they staggered into the room together. She steered him over towards the bed and let him collapse onto his back.

“Anne” he muttered.

“You don’t need her anymore……I will look after you tonight……you will see what a bitch she is Gil……she has never trusted you……she does not deserve you……. you and I……. we are meant to be together darling…….I love you……you know I do…….and I know you love me too……what we had was special Gil……I know I messed it up……But I am free now……you will be soon as well……once that bitch is out of our lives once and for all…… and we can be together, just as we always should have been”.

He groaned again, his lips moving but he was unable to form any words. He tried to move his limbs but they were too heavy.

She leaned forward and kissed him.

“No…….”

His lips were just as soft and full as they all ways had been. His lips moved against hers, but she knew that it was because he was trying to speak, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind. He managed at last to just turn his head to the side and break the kiss before a tear slipped down his cheek and he passed out.

Chapter Text

Anne felt Suzie’s hand on her back as she tried to calm her down, she soothed her in the same way that Anne had witnessed her soothing the children when they had had a quarrel or bumped their head or scraped a knee.

“I’m so sorry Anne……...I’m so sorry” she squeaked; her voice distraught. ”Try to breath…….nice slow breaths”.

Suzie encouraged her to take deep slow breaths, stroking her hair like she was a child.

Anne managed to regain control of her breathing. She was going to have to be strong…….she was a mother now…..she had to be strong for her children, they would always be her priority.

She heaved a huge sigh and sat back on her heals and looked up at the bathroom ceiling. She remembered the last time she had been so hysterical in the bathroom, when she was in Antigua and had pushed Gilbert away from her, nearly breaking them both. She had regretted that action more than anything she had ever done in her sorry life before. She should have just trusted him…….she knew him like nobody else knew him, as he did her……..but look where that had gotten her now. Maybe she would have been better off never telling him that she loved him. Maybe she would just be single and living happily with Joy in her life. She shook her head trying to dispel the thoughts. If that scenario had happened, she would not have Jem and Walter, she could never wish them away. She would take all the heartache in the world to have them, ten times over.

Suzie’s voice broke her train of thought “I’m so sorry Anne” she almost pleaded with her.

Anne looked at her and sighed. “It’s ok Suze” she shook her head sadly “It’s not your fault…….I could tell that you had not been yourself for a while now…….I’m sorry that you had to see…….that” she took another shuddering breath and bit her bottom lips with her teeth so hard, she tasted her own blood in her mouth as she thought about what Suzie had witnessed…….Gilbert having sex…….with Christine. She closed her eyes, pain radiating through her very soul.

This had broken her. She would never be the same again. She had trusted him so much. She had thought that he would never hurt her, and here he was hurting her more than anybody in her entire life had ever hurt her. This level of pain was far worse than anything she had ever suffered in the foster system, or from being bullied at school and even worse than losing her parents. She thought he was her future, she had invested everything she was in him, he had taught her to trust again, to hope again, and now it was all trash.

How would she even begin to get over Gilbert……she had trusted him and let him in…...where nobody else had ever been able to reach……. deep into her soul…….so deep, he was now a part of her. How could you have Gilbert Blythe in your life and then lose him……how could she go on after having such a wonderous love in her life……. she would never be able to love again. Of that she was certain.

Gilberts phone beeped again three times in succession.

Suzie looked at her anxiously “Do you think you should check that?......it might be important” she said in a strained voice again. Suzie looked almost as sick as Anne felt.

Anne was just silent as she stared at the bathroom wall, contemplating what her life was going to be like now.

“Do you want me to get it?” Suzie offered.

“Huh?” Anne said, wondering why Suzie was so worried about the phone. As long as her children were ok……. well……. that was all that mattered now.

“The phone?” Suzie prompted.

“No……I’ll get it” Anne felt herself getting up and walking zombie like to the phone, she should check it just in case Matthew or Marilla were trying to contact her in an emergency as Gilbert had her phone she remembered. She was slightly puzzled as to why the phone was sitting in the middle of the couch. Gilbert always had certain designated places where he left his phone, keys and wallet. They were either in his pocket, by his bedside or on the kitchen work top. If he was anything he was always OCD about how he organised himself, she had known that about him since he was a teenager when she had pranked him by moving his stuff around in Chemistry. She pushed her thoughts aside as she picked his phone up and unlocked it, she knew his passcode. They were both very open and never hid anything on their phones from each other. He knew her code too. He had guessed it as the date that Matthew and Marilia had adopted her all those years ago, claiming that he knew her better than anybody else.

She sat down on the couch in shock as she saw the messages that had been sent to him.

All from Christine.

All of a sexual nature.

All of them saying what she wanted him to do to her and her to him.

She gasped and covered her mouth up with her shaking hand. Suzie began to cry again.

She couldn’t help but scroll back through time and saw a back catalogue of messages arranging to meet, thinly veiled innuendos about what they had done together on certain occasions. Anne noted that Gilbert had indeed been to see Christine in concert, at the event advertised on the flyer she had found in his bag…….she remembered that had been the evening he had come home really late.

All of those little clues she had almost forgotten about, suggesting that he was being unfaithful.

The photo album - he must have been lying that day too.

Christ, the long dark hair in their bed the day she got back from Paris, Suzie had just said that she believed that Christine had been here in the apartment when she was away in Paris. Her stomach rolled with nausea again as she realised, he had been fucking her in their bed.

She shut her eyes in horror and mortification as she realised, that must have been Christine in his office when she had called him from Paris and had suggested phone sex, and he had shut her down, probably because he had just had sex with Christine.

She saw that there were some photographs attached to the messages. She thought she would die from heart failure as she numbly scanned through them, her mouth dry and her head now banging. Photographs of Christine in his office, wearing just a scanty lace bra and thong, of her naked underneath what Anne recognised as his lost suit jacket, that he had been hunting for for a few days now, in what must be her apartment. There was even one of her wearing the pink cashmere cardigan that she had found in his office…….that was over a year ago…….Anne physically retched as she realised how long this had been going on behind her back. Suzie appeared and passed her a glass of water and Anne gulped it down, spilling water all over her white dress as her hand was shaking so much.

Suzie stood over her, her hands turning over themselves just like Marilla’s did when she was anxious. She looked like she wanted to desperately tell Anne something but was holding back.

Anne decided not to ask, she couldn’t take any more of it.

Suzie jumped slightly as her own phone buzzed in her pocket. She gulped and moistened her dry lips with her tongue as she glanced at the message, her free hand rubbing her forehead anxiously. She put her phone back in her pocket and it buzzed again, this time she ignored it.

“You need to talk to him Anne” she said eventually.

Anne was shaking from head to toe. Suzie was right, she needed to head back to the hotel and confront him. She didn’t know for sure if he was coming home tonight. He may even stay over at the hotel. Her stomach dropped when she realised that he would probably make the most of this situation and call Christine to come and meet him at the hotel, so that they could spend the night together with no interruptions.

“Can you get me my Converse please Suzie?” she said quietly and she went off to get them. Anne stood up looked at her pale face in the mirror in the living room and wiped the tears from her face. She ran her fingers under her eyes to remove her wrecked eye liner, that was smudged all down her cheeks. Suzie appeared with her shoes and Anne quickly put them on.

She straightened up and looked at Suzie. She sighed heavily; her mouth was set in a straight line “Ok then…….wish me luck” she said so faintly that Suzie barely heard her, before she grabbed her car keys, and set off for the hotel.

Xx

As soon as Anne had clicked the door shut, Suzie extracted her phone from her pocket and typed a message out with shaking hands. Her part in all of this was now nearly over.

She was done.

Done with Christine Stuart.

She slipped her phone back into her pocket and heaved a heavy sigh. She pressed her lips together and looked up to the heavens for some form of redemption.

Now all she had to do was the part of the plan that she had been dreading the most.

She turned away from the door and headed back towards the room where the Blythe children were peacefully sleeping…….

Xx

Christine checked her watch, and sat on the side of the bed as she quickly went through her phone deleting all of the messages and picture’s she had sent to him, removing the evidence of her deceitfulness. They had now served their purpose; she knew that Anne had seen them on his phone that he had ‘forgotten’ at his apartment. She knew that she had to delete them as she would be able to easily convince Gilbert of his actions tonight due to the drug she had given him, he would not be able to remember what he had or had not done. But all of the messages she had fabricated for Anne’s benefit before tonight had to go, as he would be able to remember that they had not actually happened. She did not want him to be able to see what lengths she had gone to in order to deceive his wife and manipulate the situation.

She put her phone down on the nightstand and turned her attention back to the unconscious man on the bed. She leaned over him and then ran her hands down his body. He felt toned and firm, just as he always had. Her hands went straight to his belt buckle and she started to rid him of his clothes, throwing them on the floor, until he was lying naked on the bed. She had underestimated how hard a task that would be, he was tall and muscular, and heavier than she had anticipated, it had taken her longer than she had planned for. His body was just as she remembered though. She noticed he had a new scar on his abdomen and she ran her hands across it. He flinched slightly under her touch……..he was obviously not too far away from consciousness. She needed to work quickly. She stripped her own clothes off and threw them on the floor beside his and got her phone out and took a snap of his tuxedo and her clothes, lacey underwear and all mixed up together on the bedroom floor, she made sure that his distinctive Canadian flag keyring was visible on the table behind them. She tapped away on her phone again and a swooshing noise indicated that she posted the photograph.

She then climbed onto the bed with him and leaned over his unconscious body, she looked down at his beautiful face, his cheek still wet from the tear he had shed. She leant over and kissed it away. She stroked her fingers around the back of his ear lovingly. “Don’t worry……I love you Gilbert” she whispered. She knew that nothing physical could actually happen as he was so out of it, and she did not want to force it, but she relished feeling the warmth of his naked body next to her again……she had been so patient, it would only be a matter of time now before they were making love for real. Her mother had always told her that ’it all comes to those that wait’, and wait she had done. Her eyes drifted down to his fourth finger on his left hand, she smiled to herself as she picked his hand up and worked his wedding ring off his limp finger. She carefully placed it onto the bedside table next to him and after kissing him lightly again, she wrapped her arms around him and snuggled into his chest. A happy smile on her face as she waited for his wife to arrive.

xx

As Anne got closer to the hotel, her anxiety levels were off the scale. Her limbs were shaking so much that she could hardly keep her foot steady on the gas pedal. She tried to calm herself by taking deep breaths, she extended a shaking hand and tapped the radio on to try and relax herself. She froze as she recognised the song playing.

'Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart
They were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you'

She quickly hit the off button. Her hand still trembling.

She chewed her dry lips, bracing herself for what she was about to discover when she got up to their room. At least she guessed if she caught them red handed, it would make her decision to leave him all the easier. There would be no, ’he said, she said’. if the evidence of his infidelity was right in front of her, he would be unable to deny it, there would be no excuses or attempts to convince her that she was going mad and that it was all in her mind.

Gilbert phone suddenly rang, making Anne jump as if she had been electrocuted, she swerved slightly in her lane and nearly stalled the car. She looked down at the screen. It was Diana.

She pressed the little green phone sign on the steering wheel and the phone connected to the cars Bluetooth.

“Hello” Anne said meekly.

“Anne?......is that you?.......I have been trying to call you……but your phone is just going to voicemail……where’s Gilbert?” her voice started off soft and reassuring, but turned firmer when she had asked after Gilbert.

Anne burst into tears and sobbed at the mention of her cheating husband’s name. She pulled the car over into a Tim Hortons car park, as she could no longer see where she was going.

“Di……” was all she could say before she took a huge racking sob that overwhelmed her. She needed her friend like never before and she sobbed for her.

“Anne……” Diana said softly “Try and calm down……. big deep breaths remember”.

Diana waited whilst Anne managed to pull herself together as best she could.

When Diana could tell that Anne had calmed herself down, she broached the subject.

“You have seen it haven’t you?......” Diana started cautiously “You have seen Christine’s Instagram post haven’t you?”

Anne lolled her head back on the drivers seat’s headrest and squeezed her eyes shut, tears falling again and she let out another sob. The answer was ‘no’ she had not seen Christine’s Instagram post……but she had seen enough tonight to probably guess what it was. She shook her head, not entirely aware that Diana would not be able to see her movements as she was only on a phone call. She sobbed again.

“Anne” Diana said firmly “You need to know that Fred and I……We do not believe this…….We do not think for one minute that this is true…….she is winding you up……trying to cause trouble in your relationship.”

“But Di……. you don’t know what’s been going on……You are more than a thousand miles away……more things have happened since I spoke to you about it the other day…….I have found things on his phone and Suzie……” Anne sobbed again “….. Suzie has told me tonight that she saw him kissing and having sex with Christine in his office at the hospital”.

“What!” Diana said angrily.

“She said she had seen him, and Christine together”.

“I’m sorry Anne, I just do not believe it……Gilbert Blythe loves you with every fibre of his being……you KNOW that……he would never do that to you!......not just you either, he would never do this to his children!”

Anne cried again “But Suzie…….”

“Don’t ‘but Suzie’ me Anne…….who the hell is this Suzie anyway? How well do you know her?……do you trust her more than you know and trust your husband…..your best friend?”.

Anne gulped and blinked her eyes, the Tim Hortons logo in front of her coming into focus at last.

“She’s our nanny” she said somewhat stupidly.

“I know who she is Anne!......but can you trust her implicitly?”

“Why would she make something like that up?” Anne questioned.

“I don’t know…….sometimes people do things for strange reasons or have their own agenda. Does she have the hots for Gilbert? Is she trying to break you up, so she can make a move?”

Anne thought about it……almost every woman they ever met, no matter how young or old seemed to stare at him as he was just so beautiful...... entranced by him. He never noticed them of course, he only ever had eyes for her. A stab of pain radiated through her; he had done a good job of making her feel so safe in his arms that she had let her guard down.

But when she thought about Gilbert and Suzie, she just couldn’t see it. Even from the first day that they had met her, she just didn’t seem to be very interested in him. In fact, that had been a contributing factor in Anne choosing to hire her as she didn’t want a simpering teenager in the house blushing every time Gilbert said a polite ‘Good morning’ to her.

“No…..I don’t think that’s it……She doesn’t seem interested in him in that way”.

“Must be a lesbian then” Diana quipped.

“This is not remotely funny Di”.

“Well just look at it impartially then. Why was Suzie at Gilberts Office? Do you not need a hospital security pass to access that part of the hospital? How would she even get to see that if it indeed it even ever happened?”

“I don’t know” Anne said confusion creeping into her mind.

“And how the hell would Suzie know it was Christine?......Did Gilbert stop shagging her and formerly introduce the two?”

“Well…..I don’t know”.

“Anne please I beg of you to stop and think clearly before you go rushing in in that dreadful headlong fashion that is your signature style…….I am not saying that Gilbert doesn’t have some difficult questions to answer……but please take some deep breaths and think about everything you have seen and heard……. and think about it logically”.

“Ok” Anne said quietly, feeling calmer.

“Have you actually seen the Instagram post?”

“No……I don’t think I want too”.

“Well look at it”.

“I don’t want too”.

“How do you think I saw it?”

“I don’t know……I do have quite a lot on my mind at the moment Diana Wright”.

“She posted a picture of their clothes on the bedroom floor together, with his Canadian key ring in the background and tagged it #BestDroftheyearsex on the official Toronto Philharmonic page Anne!”

“What?”

“The Toronto Philharmonic page!”

“Is she Insane?”

“Exactly!......my beautiful friend……you have just won first prize in the ‘Christine Stuart is Bat Crap Crazy’ competition’……. why the hell would she post on an international platform, that she was having an affair with your husband?”

Anne sat frozen in the car’s drivers’ seat……was there to be no end to tonight’s revelations! She could barely take it anymore.

“Di……I’ve got to go…….I need to talk to him to find out the truth?”

“Ok…….I love you…….have faith in him Anne, you didn’t listen to me before……its time now to show him how much you trust him”.

“I love you too Di……I’ll do my best, but the evidence is just too overwhelming…….I don’t know that we will ever be able to move past this…….but I think Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe are through”.

Chapter Text

Anne practically threw her car key to the startled valet, she had never before been so grateful for valet parking.

Her heart hammered and her mouth was dry as she pushed open the revolving door of the hotel and headed into the reception area. There were people everywhere, having a wonderful evening. She became suddenly aware of what an absolute wreck she must look, still in her beautiful white dress, but her hair and makeup a complete write off, and instead of her beautiful Louboutin’s, she was wearing her old scruffy white Converse. She marched through the bar area, looking all around for the familiar mop of dark curls, hoping against hope that she would find him there innocently minding his own business, and this was all a horrible misunderstanding, but alas he was not to be found. She went into the banqueting suite, where she had spent the last few happy hours that she would ever spend with Gilbert Blythe and worked her way through the throbbing crowds of dancers and partygoer’s. If one profession knew how to let loose and have a damn good party, it was the medical profession, any excuse to let off some steam from the incredibly stressful career that they were in. She stood on her tiptoes and looked over everybody’s heads, he was usually quite easy to spot being so tall, but tonight he was nowhere to be found.

She sat down on an empty seat for a few seconds as she tried to prepare herself for what she was about to face, her leg wagging up and down anxiously, her fingertips drumming against the table and her top teeth biting her already swollen and bloody lip. She lifted her eyes to where the hotel’s grand staircase was, it was directly within her eyeline from where she was sitting. She knew that at the top of those stairs was her answer……. she knew that he was in their hotel room……. she knew that she would find Christine Stuart in there too. Tears welled in her eyes as her imagination ran wild with what she was about to witness, she momentarily thought she was going to be sick again, but there was nothing left in her stomach to come back up.

She got slowly up and walked out of the party towards the hotel lift, her heart pounding so loudly she could hear it in her own ears. It felt like an outer body experience, like when she had heard from Diana that Gilbert was dying with Typhoid. She had thought then that she was about to lose him, just as she did now. She felt as if she was somehow floating across the hotel lobby, her literary mind thought it was quite apt that she was wearing a white dress, she felt as if she were a ghost, a ghost of her former happy self, just drifting around unseen and unnoticed by the happy people around her.

She was suddenly snapped out of her daze, by a voice saying “Mrs Blythe?”. She turned her tear-stained face towards where the voice was coming from. It was a smartly dressed man about average height with blonde hair and brown eyes. She quickly swiped her tears away.

“Yes” she answered, not recognising this guy.

“Er……I know that you don’t know me, I’m Dr Joseph Jones, a cardiologist at TG……” he stopped as he took in her distressed state. “…….are you ok?” he asked softly. Looking concerned.

“Erm, not really…….I’m trying to find my husband……Dr….”

“Gilbert Blythe…..” Joe interrupted her.

“Yeah” Anne said, wondering where this was going. “Have you seen him around at all?”.

He looked embarrassed. “Yeah……I saw him getting into the lift with Christine…….Christine Stuart……”.

Anne felt like she had been physically hit in the guts, she bent slightly forwards one hand went to her stomach her hand other came to up cover her mouth as she gasped.

“He didn’t look in a good way…….he looked rather worse for wear” Joe explained.

Anne nodded mutely and started to turn away, to go back to the lifts.

“Mrs Blythe……” Joe called again and ran around in front of her “I used to date Christine, until about an hour ago……”

Anne looked at him confused; she was rapidly coming to the point where her brain could not take any more.

“We had been dating for over a year……until tonight. She was watching you and your husband all evening, and she chose to dump me as soon as she saw you leave the hotel tonight”.

Anne staggered backwards slightly and Joe quickly took hold of her elbow to steady her “I think you need to know……before you go up there…..” they both looked at the elevator and then back at each other “…..that I think Christine is obsessed with your husband…….and more importantly…….she is a psychopathic liar”.

“What?” Anne whispered.

“She’s not right……. she lies and she manipulates”.

“Lies?” Anne questioned faintly again, barely registering this stranger’s words.

“Yes……. they trip of her tongue like there’s no tomorrow”.

“I’ve got to go……” Anne faintly said, gently pulling her arm out of his grasp as he was still helping to hold her up.

“Ok……but please, be careful”.

“Careful” Anne repeated “I’ll be careful” she was now in a complete daze, almost as if she was hypnotised, her sense of reality blurring, it seemed as this evening was just getting more and more surreal.

She turned and made her way to the lift. She stood staring at the ‘up’ button. Willing herself to push it. She turned back and looked at Joe behind her, who was still standing watching her anxiously.

“Are you sure you are ok?” he asked.

She took a deep calming breath……she could do this “Yes……I’m good” she nodded to affirm her decision to herself. She turned back to the elevator and purposely pressed the damn button.

Xx

Christine looked anxiously at her watch; Anne should be here any minute. She sat up from her position, still half draped over him. He moved slightly beneath her and groaned, his head rolling back and forth on the pillow. He moistened his lips with his tongue and his eyelids fluttered, but he did not open them.

Christine ran her hands over his chest again and lent down, kissing his tempting lips again. He was so utterly beautiful, she stroked his cheek with her thumb, his skin was so smooth, utterly flawless, she gazed lovingly at him. She knew that this was still just the first stage of her plan. Soon he would wake up and they would be discovered in this compromising position by his wife, there would be screaming and doors slamming whilst they argued it out. His wife accusing him of a million things that he had not done, jumping to the conclusion that he had been cheating on her for months. She knew that any woman would not stay with a guy whom she had just discovered naked in bed with his ex…….she knew that Anne would end it there and then.

She also knew that he would question what the hell had happened tonight and why she was in his bed. She had carefully thought this through and would tell him that he’d had too much to drink and after consoling her about her break up with Joe, they had ended up in bed together, of course he would not be able to remember it……because he had been so drunk……..it happened all the time. Guys getting so wasted that they had a black out and couldn’t remember what or who they had done, in fact she knew Gilbert himself had done that on the evening of his 21st birthday, waking up with a mystery woman in his bed. He had told her that much himself.

Christine would be all innocent in this, blameless. All of Anne’s suspicions and accusations he would put down to her paranoia. She had already deleted all of the fake messages she had sent to him from her own phone. So even if Anne tried to prove her point with the ‘evidence’ on his phone, all of the fake messages and pictures she had sent will have disappeared, and he would just think his wife was cruel and unhinged.

Christine had wanted the messages that Anne found on his phone to make his betrayal seem more believable, and that it had been going on for months, not just a drunken mistake. Besides all of those messages will be dwarfed by the horror of finding her husband in bed with another woman.

She would of course be there for him as he went through the breakdown of his marriage, loving and supporting him…….and it would only be a matter of time before he fell back into her arms. Men were not good on their own, they were always looking for a woman to look after them. And soon…. that woman would be her.

Xx

Anne stood alone in the lift, watching the electronic numbers scroll up in front of her, she put her hand on the wall of the elevator and steadied herself, unbeknownst to her she put her hand on the exact same spot that her husband had done earlier.

Her was head spinning, her heart was hammering and a song going around and around in her head…..it wasn’t just any song…….it was their song. The one she had sung to him when she told him that she loved him. Bless the Broken Road, after hearing it just for a few seconds on the car radio earlier, it had embedded itself into her mind, going around and around.

She closed her eyes and it was like her life was flashing before them.

The shocked look in his hazel eyes as she had hit him with her atlas, the hurt in his face as she had called him a man whore, dickhead. libertine and a roue. His sweaty body caked in the dusty red earth the day that he had saved Matthew’s life, as he held her shaking body in his arms as she had sobbed into his chest. He made her feel safe.

She remembered how she had chased him around her apartment with her straighteners in her hand when they were both students, how they had both laughed, how he had sung in his awful voice for all of those years, running down the street in Kingsport when she was feeling lonely in Toronto, singing via FaceTime, making a complete fool of himself. just to make her smile, to see a twinkle in her eyes. He made her laugh like nobody else she had ever met. They had fun together.

How he had held her and supported her through so many bad times in her life, her break up with Roy, her argument with Jack, he had trusted her, had never questioned her……he loved her.

His face as he had walked out of her life after she had told him that she could ‘never love’ him. His face, his pale white lips. And his eyes…. she remembered how she had looked away as she couldn’t bear to look at the utter, devastation in them. He loved her then and he loved her now. She knew he did.

The next image was as he stepped forward in the hospital with Joy in his arms, how he had cried with happiness when she had told him that he was her father. The way he had pressed her up against the living room wall the night that she had told him that she loved him, he had kissed her with a passion that was starving for her, she had never felt anything like it before in her life and she knew that he hadn’t too. Their two souls together as one at last, how it had always meant to be.

She remembered the boat, the moonlight, the flowers, the candles, the lanterns, his beautiful voice. Him kissing her pearl engagement ring on her finger as he told her she was all he had ever wanted……. all he had ever dreamed of……. a persistent dreamer of a long and happy life with her.

The children laughing and playing on the beach with him and as he ran around the apartment with them in his arms whilst they squealed with delight. Joy on his back as he did press ups in the living room……Joy asleep on his chest, the way he had clung onto her afraid that Anne would take her away from him. The way he could never feed Walter without getting himself covered in food. The way he held her and kissed her when they made love together.

The passion, the fun, the teasing, the connection, the complete and utter love.

The elevator dinged loudly indicating it had reached her required floor, making her jump and her eyes snap open as the door slid effortlessly to one side, allowing her to step out onto the landing where their room was, where they were supposed be together right now, in each other’s arms.

Happy and in love.

She took it one step at a time as that was the only way she could persuade her body to cooperate with her head as she approached the room.

Her key card in her shaking hand, she turned her body to face the door and quietly slid the card into the lock. The green light flickered and she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as she pressed the door handle down and opened the door…….

Chapter Text

CHRISTINE

Christine froze in the silent room as she heard the bell of the elevator ding loudly, indicating that somebody had just alighted from the lift, and was coming down the corridor, she glanced quickly at her watch. That must be her by now, it had taken a little longer for Anne to get back to the hotel than she had anticipated, probably another sign that she was not invested in her marriage as much as she should have been. If it were her, and Gilbert was her husband, she would have practically flown to the hotel.

She knew it was a risk, but she had to wake him up. She had calculated from the amount of drugs she had given him that he would only stay unconscious a few more minutes anyway.

As she thought that, Gilbert next to her started to stir, his head lolling towards her where she still lay next to him on the bed.

“Gilbert” she hissed, slapping him quickly around the face to wake him up. “Gilbert!”

He stirred again, his eyes starting to flutter open and his hand moved next to her body. Christine could almost sense Anne on the other side of the door, plucking up the courage to let herself in. Christine knew it was time to make her move, as she heard the bedroom door handle click open as Anne entered the room. She wrapped her legs around Gilberts and half hovered over him as he started to groan, his brow furrowed and she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his and she kissed him.

His hands came up of the bed and he half raised them into the air She suddenly felt his hands tighten around the tops of her arms and his legs start to move around below her as he attempted to shove her of him. She rolled to the side and pretended to gasp in shock as she saw Anne Shirley standing at the foot of the bed watching them. She was still wearing the white dress, her red hair tumbling over her shoulders and her face white and tears streaking down her cheeks. But what struck Christine Stuart the most about Anne Shirley as she stood at the end of her bed were her eyes.

Her eyes were a vibrant, glowing green, as she glowered angrily down at Christine.

The sheer intensity of her stare made Christine freeze on the bed, her breath escaping her chest.

Christine had never seen anything like it before and a small shiver of fear coursed through her.

She suddenly feared that she had majorly underestimated the force of nature that was Anne Shirley.

Xx

GILBERT

Gilbert had been dreaming.

It wasn’t a nice dream though; it was the kind of dream that haunted you for weeks after. The kind of dream that put you off even wanting to go to bed, not wanting to go to sleep in case the vile thoughts managed to permeate your unconscious mind again without your permission whist you were asleep. Your mind defenceless against being dragged into a darkened and frightening world again.

He didn’t know where he was…….he didn’t know what had happened…….he didn’t know where his family was. The dream where Christine had taken Jem had been bad enough, but now his confused and foggy brain didn’t know where the rest of his family were either……..he panicked. He could feel his heart rate increase, but he couldn’t move. He had dreamt that Christine had offered him a poisoned nut, one half of a philopena and he had foolishly taken and eaten it. And now she had tied him to the bed, he was unable to move his arms and legs, he fought it with all of his strength, but it was no good, he had been enslaved by the soft mattress, swallowed by its softness as his heavy limbs sank into it as if it were quicksand, dragging him further down…….away from his family……away from his children…… away from Anne.

Anne.

Suddenly there was a pin prick of light glowing far off in the darkness.

When he thought about his wife, the darkness waned. He remembered her fiery eyes as she had turned to him on that first day, her atlas held high above his head. The fire he had seen in her was unstoppable, unquenchable a raging inferno that had ignited his entire being. The sheer beauty of her skin as she has laid on top of him as they had wrestled together in the snow the day that they had gone paintballing together. How much he had wanted to kiss her that day. And many years later when she did eventually kiss him for the first time, how soft and warm her kiss was, her lips moving tenderly against his, his heart stopping, his breath held as it finally registered in his brain that Anne was kissing him….. SHE was kissing HIM. He would never forget that first kiss.

Her sweeping down the aisle towards him on their wedding day, grinning beautifully at him. Not a trace of nerves about her countenance. Confident, happy and in love.

Just the thought of her name brought light to his unwelcomed darkness, a shining light, a flickering candle that blazed out of control into a bonfire, the bonfire that they had danced around in Antigua the night that they had conceived Joy. She was the fire that raged in his soul and the light that he was always drawn too.

“Gilbert!”

He felt a sharp smack to his cheek.

“Gilbert!”

It was a female voice, but not the voice he loved.

He realised he could now move his head, and he rolled it from side to side on the pillow.

He groaned and tried to open his eyes, but his eye lids were still too heavy to open.

His hands suddenly felt lighter and he could lift them off the mattress. He screwed his eyes shut as he felt somebody kissing him, kissing him hard.

This was wrong.

He wanted to scream……..to get whoever it was off him. He grabbed whoever the weight was lying across him and shoved them off to one side.

He knew it wasn’t Anne.

Anne!

He opened his eyes and then he saw her.

Anne.

Standing at the end of the bed, her eyes green and wide in horror, tears falling down her cheeks, her mouth hanging half open.

He looked down at his own body and realised that he was naked, he glanced back up at Anne, horrified as he followed her eyes as they flitted towards the other person who was lying next to him on the bed.

Christine.

A very naked Christine.

Anne was still standing frozen at the end of the bed.

Gilbert tried to get up off the bed but didn’t quite have enough strength or coordination yet to be able to do so. He struggled to regain control over his own limbs, but was unable to do so and rolled off the bed and landed in an undignified heap on the bedroom carpet. He attempted to cover himself up with cushion that had been thrown on the floor earlier, not wanting Christine to see him naked.

His mouth was dry, his head was banging and he was so confused, ‘what the fuck was going on’.

He looked back up at his wife and she glanced down at him. The pain in her bright eyes nearly killing him.

“Anne……..No!” was all he could say, his brain still intensely foggy. “No……..no, no” he shook his head wildly.

He tried to get up again, but couldn’t, he looked back over to Christine who was still lying in the bed having covered her own naked body up with a sheet.

“No……no. no” He started to sob as Anne covered her gaping, horrified mouth with her hand.

“Anne. No……..I didn’t…….I don’t understand……I didn’t” he blurted out.

He stumbled again as he tried to get up. The drug in his system, still not allowing him to be able to move fully. “I can’t get up…….Anne” he reached out and was able to catch hold of the delicate organza that her skirt was made up off.

His wife removed her hands from her face and looked own at her husband and something in her eyes shifted.

She turned her back and headed back towards the door. Leaving him in free fall as his world crashed down around him.

Xx

ANNE

Anne stood outside the hotel room door. Even though her heart was racing and she could hardly breath she felt cold and empty.The life she knew was over, and she could feel the darkness that she had known before in her life before start to envelope her, it's familiar frozen fingers gripping her heart and constricting it. As she reached out and put her hand on the cold steel door handle, she closed her eyes and wondered if she would actually be able to make it through what she now knew lay on the other side of this door.......would there even be a tomorrow?.....she couldn't begin to think that there would ever be a day after this night, it would be darkness every day now. She felt so cold, she would never be able to feel the warmth of the new days sun on her face ever again. He was her warmth, her northern star, guiding her on her way. her hand on the door handle started to tremble. She felt like she wanted to run, just hide and never come out again, rather than face what she knew she was going to see. "Just one step at a time Anne....just one step" she whispered to her self as her trembling hand depressed the door handle.

Anne pushed the door open and held her breath, she heard her husband groan, causing her to open her eyes, she kept them focused on the floor where she saw the pile of their clothes, and her stomach twisted. Her eyes moved up to the bed where she saw Christine Stuart leaning over and passionately kissing a man on the bed, his body and face obscured by her body. She watched as Christine pulled back and then her gasp in horror and Anne’s eyes meet her deep blue eyes. She held Christine’s stare for a fraction of a second before with her heart breaking, she moved her eyes to the right, where she saw what she had been dreading seeing for the last hour or so……...or maybe it was for the last six months or so.

She saw her husband, naked on the bed, his hands around the tops of Christine’s arms, his legs moving weakly, as he shoved Christine off him.

His hazel eyes suddenly opened and he looked at her standing frozen at the end of the bed.

Time seemed to freeze as they stared at each other, her green eyes boring into his stricken hazel ones.

He tried to get up off the bed, but just fell off into a heap on the floor with a painful thud.

“Anne……..No!......No……..no, no” he shook his head wildly and stumbled around on the floor on his hands and knees like he was a child, a confused furrow deep on his brow, his eyes slightly glazed and his speech slurred.

She followed his eyes as he glanced up at Christine who was still on the bed, she had covered herself over with a sheet and the horrified look had melted away into a smug smile as she watched Gilbert flail around on the floor. He grabbed a cushion and covered himself up.

“No……no. no” He started to sob as Anne covered her mouth with a shaking hand. “Anne. No……I didn’t” he struggled to articulate, he shook his head trying to clear his head, tears streaming down his confused and anguished face.

He stumbled again as he tried to get up “I can’t…….” he slurred, he looked confused still as he reached out and was able to catch hold of the delicate organza that her skirt was made up off, his hazel eyes pleading with her.

“Anne?” he looked like he was going to pass out.

Time seemed to standstill as she looked down at him. The look of sheer devastation in his beautiful hazel eyes made her pause. She had seen his pleading eyes a hundred times before as he had tried to charm his way out of every sticky situation he had ever found himself in…….but this was different. The way his eyes pleaded with her broke her heart. They were confused, hurt, earnest, loving, terrified, but mostly a swirling, glimmering cauldron of desperation.

She remembered Diana words:

‘We do not believe this…...Gilbert Blythe loves you with every fibre of his being……you KNOW that……he would never do that to you!......not just you either, he would never do this to his children!’

She remembered Joe’s words from just a few minutes ago:

‘I think Christine is obsessed with your husband…….and more importantly…….she is a psychopathic liar……… She’s not right……. she lies and she manipulates’.

She remembered Gilbert words:

“Why do you always believe the worst of me Anne……. have I not done enough to prove myself to you yet?”

She looked back down at him, clutching her skirt in one shaking hand and covering himself up with a cushion with the other.

His face was turned up towards her, his eyes broken, pleading with her, breathing rapidly his lips white and tears in his eyes.

He was behaving as if he was completely plastered. She had been with him only an hour or so ago and he was stone cold sober, only drinking water all night. She could not smell alcohol on him either. Why was he completely out of control of his body, he was normally as fit and agile as a cat, not a clumsy oaf like she was. His hand suddenly slipped down her leg and landed on the floor as he tried to support himself as he swayed like he was going to pass out.

Why was he covering himself up with the cushion? Would he do that if he was having an affair with Christine? He obviously didn’t want her to see him naked. If he had just had sex with her, he wouldn’t be hiding his body from her.

As she looked down at her husband, all of those years of memories that had been bouncing around in her head all evening, suddenly collided in her brain in an instant moment of intense clarity as he turned his beautiful devastated eyes up to hers one last time.

He would never do this to her.

He loved her.

They loved each other.

She knew he would never hurt her, and by default their children either.

He had trusted her implicitly when Jack had kissed her, even before he had seen the viral video of her slapping Jack. He had trusted her at her word and had comforted and soothed her to take her pain away.

Perhaps it was time for her to start trusting him, just as Diana had said.

She turned her back on him and headed towards the door. She heard him whimper slightly and crash around as he tried to get up to come after her but he just fell back onto the floor. She went into the bathroom and grabbed a glass that was sitting next to the basin and filled it up with water. With her heart hammering, she glanced up at herself in the mirror. She held her own stare as she looked into the familiar reflection of her eyes and she felt something deep down inside her very soul suddenly shift.

She was not Anne Shirley anymore.

She was Anne Blythe now.

She was no longer that frightened unloved, little orphan. She was happily married. She was loved beyond words, treasured, and beyond happy. He had proved to her time and time again how much he loved her. Losing her had nearly killed him……Winnie had told her that only a few days ago.

She had grown, she had changed……. all because of him, because he loved her. He had shown her that she was worthy of being loved, worthy of being loved by him.

He was her husband and she was his wife. She was the mother to his children.

Nothing would come between them. He needed her as much as she needed him.

They had an unbreakable bond.

She knew he would not do this to her.

She trusted him.

What the fuck had that bitch done to him?

She knew the answer to that question, as a teenager, she had attended many classes at high school about keeping safe whilst on a night out. She knew the symptoms of when somebodies drink had been spiked or a date rape drug had been administered.

He was exhibiting all of the symptoms of being drugged.

“That fucking bitch!” Anne seethed under her breath, her lips pressed together in a tight and angry line as she stormed back out of the bathroom.

xx

Anne walked back into the room with the glass of water in her hand, he was face first down on the floor sobbing, his face buried in his hands as his back was wracked with sobs, his body trembling. He had assumed she had left the room when he had seen her heading towards the door and it had completely broken him.

Whilst Anne was in the bathroom, Christine had jumped out of bed and had grabbed her clothes and was now dressed in her underwear and was slipping into a hotel robe as Anne emerged from the bathroom. She made to get over to Gilbert before Anne did, but Anne barged her with her shoulder out of the way and Christine landed on the bed.

Anne put the glass of water down and knelt down next to him and put a gentle hand on his back, He flinched and pulled away from her, assuming it was Christine that was touching him.

“No……!” he mumbled, trying to get away from the touch his face still covered by his hands.

“Gil” she whispered, and put her hands on his, and moved them away from his face.

His breath hitched when he heard his wife’s voice and he looked up at her startled to see that she was still in the same room, his drug addled brain making him think she had walked out.

Their eyes locked and a bolt of electricity shot between them like never before. He sobbed and she put her arms protectively around him and held him as he cried, one arm around his shoulders and the other around his head as he wept into her neck.

“You’re a fool Anne Shirley…….I don’t know why you are holding him……he has been fucking me for the past year you ugly bitch” she heard Christine’s cold voice say from the bed.

Anne closed her eyes and held him closer. He wrapped his arms around his wife, his fingers almost painfully digging into her, he held her so tightly.

“How desperate are you? He’s been cheating on you, you sad cow” Christine laughed.

Anne just buried her face into her husband’s hair.

“He’s in love with me……. he doesn’t want you anymore……” Christine laughed happily. Still feeling confident that Anne would snap at any minute and walk out of his life forever. “He tells me that, every time he fucks me…….and every time he takes me out to dinner, or meets me back stage after my piano recitals……. oh yeah, I suppose they fall into the first category that I mentioned, because they were all of the times that he fucks me too……in the back of his car……in my dressing room……on your sofa…..in your bed” She laughed smugly, trying to taunt Anne. “He really is the best lover……. don’t you agree?......apart from all of that talking in his sleep of course” she said almost fondly “If I hear about one more medical procedure from those kissable lips, I think I will be able to pass the MCCR’s myself” she gloated.

Gilbert shook his head, but was still unable to communicate, his head pounding, his mind foggy and every muscle in his body aching.

Anne pulled back and gave him the glass of water “Here, drink this……it will help to wash the drug out of your system” she said softly too him. She sensed Christine standing over her as he took the glass and gulped it back with a shaking hand, Anne helped him to steady it.

Anne straightened up, but even at her full height she was still a few inches shorter than Christine. But what Anne Blythe lacked in height, she more than made up for in personality.

“You mean The MCCEE’s Christine?” Anne said, her eyes fixed on Christine and her arms folded.

Christine flinched slightly; Anne Shirley had always made her feel quite stupid. The gloating smile dropped off her face and was replaced by a hard set line.

“He doesn’t want you…….he wants me…….” She tried again, pointing her finger aggressively in Anne’s face and the tone in her voice changing to an altogether more menacing one after she heard what Anne had said about the drugs.

“Well, that’s where you are wrong ‘Chrissy’” Anne taunted “You see, I don’t have to drug him to get him to get into my bed naked”.

“What the fuck are you talking about?.......I haven’t drugged him…..he’s begging for it when he is with me….we’ve even fucked in your bed…..yeah, that’s right…….he was all over me, couldn’t get enough……over and over again, when your fat arse was in Paris.” She snarled.

“Really Christine?” Anne said scathingly and shook her head at her and laughed. “You really do believe your own bullshit, don’t you? What exactly did you think was going to happen here? That I would give up on the love of my life, that I would just walk away from the most amazing man I have ever met, my soul mate…….my best friend……my husband”.

Christine smirked at her “Oh yeah, what kind of ‘amazing man’…….” She walked over to the nightstand and picked up Gilberts wedding ring “…….takes his wedding ring off whilst he is fucking his lover?” she cackled and threw the ring hard at Anne's head. Anne caught the ring soundly in one hand. If years in the foster system had taught her anything, it was to have the reactions of a fighter pilot, she had become quite used to all manner of things being thrown at her during those years.

Anne unfurled her hand and showed Christine the wedding ring in her palm. “Read it”.

“What?”

“I said. Read it!……..the inscription inside”.

Christine shook her head and looked away.

“READ it!” Anne demanded.

Christine snatched the ring out of her hand and held it up in the light. Her jaw tightened and her eyes narrowed as she read the inscription.

‘Anne Always’

Christine threw the ring angrily at the hotel room wall and it bounced off onto the bed.

“I don’t fucking care what you have engraved onto his ring you stupid bitch……the fact is that Gilbert and I have been lovers all year…….he’s bored with you and your fucking kids……it’s me that he wants. He was going to leave you anyway”.

Anne ignored the last part of her sentence and laughed.

“I didn’t have it engraved…….he did…….years before we were even together…….you know what Christine……” she paused and folded her arms across her chest and smirked, “I really should give you some kudos in all this…….” Anne said lightly, raising her red eyebrows as she sat back down on the bed.

She calmly and lovingly stroked Gilberts hair where he still sat on the floor, trying to get his head together and his body to function normally.

“You were right about one thing……. back then....... You were one hundred per cent right - and I mean before we were married, not this little charade….” She pointed to the rumpled bed “…..which is all of your invention - You were right about Gil and I……We were in love with each other……. that whole time he was with you, he was actually deeply in love with me”, she pointed to his ring on the bed “and that is the proof of it……they are his words Christine…..his NOT mine…..he loves me, and I love him…….it was always me for him, always was and always will be…..but good try…..ten out of ten for imagination…….but zero out of ten for attainment”. Anne said scathingly and shook her head at Christine as if she were a naughty child.

Christine’s eyes narrowed, she had been planning this for years, she was not about to give up so easily and let her have him, so she tried changing her tac.

She dropped down to her knees in front of him “Gil…..I know you love me……we are good together…….it was never her, you know that…….you know that deep down”, she tried to put her hand on him but he flinched away from her, and buried his face deeper into Anne’s lap, not even able to look up at her.

“Don’t call him Gil……..he doesn’t want you Christine. He has done everything he can for the last few years to avoid you…… if you believe that this little drama is going to end up with him falling helplessly in love with you, then you are very wrong. Are you completely deluded? What did you think was going to happen here? Did you honestly think that you could side line me and then move into my place in his life? That you could manipulate and ruin his life to such an extent and he would then fall back in love with you, you daft cow…….he didn’t even love you enough when you were dating…….at what point are you going to get that that through your thick head……..he doesn’t want you Christine, never has……never will……..so it’s about time you started to get used to that”.

Christine lashed out and slapped Anne across the face, leaving a stinging red mark on her pale cheek.

Gilbert groaned, his head spinning and his stomach rolling.

“Get the fuck out” Anne hissed looking back up at her, her eyes brimming with repressed anger.

Christine’s jaw clenched and her eyes went dark. She was not going to let that bitch have him. She looked at him, crouching on the floor at Anne’s feet, his head resting against her knees as she lovingly stroked his hair with one hand and she cradled her slapped cheek with the other. She couldn’t believe that Anne Shirley was going to forgive him, after everything that she had seen and heard tonight, Christine had been convinced that her plan would work. He was hers……and only hers.

She straightened up, her mouth set in an ugly downward turned line. She grabbed her bag and turned as if she was about to leave the room, but instead she opened her purse and pulled a steak knife out that had been twisted up in her napkin, the napkin she had taken from the dining table earlier.

She held the knife up at Anne. Anne froze, her eyes going wide with fear as she realised what she was holding in her hand. She had come to realised how unstable Christine was this evening, but this was crazy on a whole new terrifying level.

“Move away from him bitch” Christine hissed.

“Never” Anne whispered in a hoarse voice, her hands resting protectively over Gilberts head. Christine grabbed hold of Anne by the hair at the base of her neck and pulled her up into a standing position.

Gilberts head lolled onto the bed, he was barely conscious.

Christine traced the knife along Anne’s collar bone, a twisted smile on her face. Her plan may have not gone as she had hoped for tonight, but at least she would be able to end the agony that she had lived with since the day that Gilbert Blythe had finished their relationship. When she had heard that he had married Anne Shirley, she knew that she was unable to live with the knowledge that they were happy and loved up together, it made her skin crawl and her stomach roll with nausea every time she thought about them together, and she thought about them constantly. They didn’t deserve to be happy together. They had cheated and lied the whole time that she had been with Gilbert, they were bad people, they didn’t deserve to get the happy ever after……. she did.

She was not going to let them win.

She twisted her hand painfully in Anne’s hair and pulled her close to her face, she spat in Anne’s face and hissed “You will not have him……he will always be mine…….and if I can’t have him, then neither can you Shirley!” she forcefully shoved Anne onto the bed as she turned and lunged at Gilbert, the knife raised above her head, a primal scream escaping her lips.

Chapter Text

“You will not have him……he will always be mine…….and if I can’t have him, then neither can you Shirley!”

“GIL!” Anne screamed, seeing the knife in Christine’s hand being aimed at her husband’s back. Anne jumped up from the bed and threw all of her weight at Christine, trying to knock her off balance. Anne grabbed Christine’s wrists as Christine flailed around with the knife. The terror that flooded every nerve and cell of Anne’s body made her stronger as they struggled over the knife.

“I’m not Shirley anymore…….I’m Blythe!” Anne spat at her, their eyes locked “If you want to hurt him……then you are going to have to get past me first!”

Anne twisted her body around so that she was standing between Christine and Gilbert, protecting her drowsy husband. Christine’s teeth were bared, her lips pulled back in an hideous snarl. Anne heard her husband groan again and she glanced away from Christine to look at Gilbert, his eyes were closed and his head lolling on the bed.

“GILBERT!” she screamed trying to wake him back up. But in that single moment of distraction Anne felt Christine rip her wrist out of her grasp and before she knew it, she felt the blade slash through the top of her arm, the delicate white organza sleeve of her dress sliced open and blood flowing through the almost transparent fabric and gluing it to her arm as Christine threw her to the floor.

She fell to the ground and looked up Christine, who was strong, fuelled by bitterness, jealousy and hate, her eyes black and her mouth in a snarl as she grabbed Anne by the hair again and spat “Now you can sit and watch him die!”

“GILBERT!...MOVE!” She looked over at him, her eyes wide with terror. He stirred and his eyes fluttered open. Anne started kicking Christine in the ankles to try and distract her, or to make her lose her balance.

“You’ll never have him bitch” Christine whispered menacingly, a smile twisted on her lips, realising she was back in control of the situation. She slapped Anne again across the face with the back of her hand, knocking her onto the floor again and laughed as she turned and brought the knife down towards Gilberts exposed back where he still sat on the floor.

“GILBERT!”

He suddenly twisted around and caught Christine’s wrist, he was still not back to his full strength, but as his alarmed and confused eyes took in Anne as she lay on the floor clutching her arm, a blood stain blossoming over her white dress, he was filled with an anger and a hate that matched Christine’s.

Still gripping her wrist tightly, he stood up to his full height, Christine struggled against him, kicking and screaming obscenities. He had stood up too quickly though and the last of the drug in his system made his blood pressure drop and he staggered to the side as they fought over the knife, they knocked over a lamp and a chair fell over.

Christine’s teeth bared as she wrestled to inflict any kind of physical injury to him that matched the emotional wounds, she felt that he had inflicted on her.

They heard a hammering on the door, and somebody called for security, Gilbert glanced over to Anne to check that she was ok, but she was no longer on the floor, just a few drips of blood on the carpet where she had been lying, he started to panic……where was she. His mind still confused…….was she ok? His grip started to loosen on Christine’s arm and he looked back up at her just as she made a motion to slash him across his face with the knife.

Gilbert instinctively flinched and tried to protect his face with his arm. He braced himself to feel the cold hard blade cutting through his skin, but nothing happened. He just heard a loud thudding sound and opened his eyes to see Christine lying on the floor unconscious with his beautiful wife standing over her with his heavy glass Doctor of The Year Award in both of her hands after having hit Christine on the head with it. Her breathing rapid and her arm still bleeding.

“Anne are you ok?” He asked desperately, staggering over Christine’s still body and checking her arm, he was relieved to see it was just a flesh wound. He picked his white dress shirt up off the floor that he had been wearing earlier and pressed it hard against her wound to stop the bleeding, still staggering around as he did so.

“Yeah” she breathed, and then staggered herself and sat down on the bed trying to catch her breath.

His eyes slid from the wound on her arm up to meet her eyes, she smiled tenderly at him, before tears started coursing down her cheeks and he pulled her into his bare chest and hugged her hard as she sobbed in his arms, her body wracked with sobs as the intense emotions of the evening overflowed and spilled out of her.

He kissed the top of her head, and closed his eyes. Tears now falling down his own cheeks “Anne…….what she said………none of it is true……..you have to believe me……none of it, not a word” he whispered urgently into the side of her head “Not a single word”. He held her tightly as he swayed slightly, his balance still not fully restored. “Please believe me Anne…….I love you……I love you…….” He petered out, terrified by her silence “Anne?” he asked at last, his body frozen.

“I know…….I believe you……” She said eventually “…….I……I think you have got some serious questions to answer mind you…….but they can wait until later……” she sniffed “but all you need to know now is that I believe you, I know you would never do any of those things that she accused you of…….I know it in my heart”.

He pulled her away from him so that he could see her face. His eyes were red and his face was pale.

“You believe me?” he whispered, stroking her cheek tenderly with his thumb. Almost not believing it.

She looked up at him with love in her eyes “Yes…….I believe you Gil…….I have made so many mistakes in the past, where I have listened to my head and not my heart…….when I pushed you away when I found out that I was pregnant with Joy……even when we first met, I froze you out for five years…….telling myself that I hated you, when I actually loved you deeply…….feeling as if I was unworthy of your love……..I have always jumped to the wrong and the worst conclusion, and have been to quick to judge you when really all you have done is love me and try to protect me……..but I am not that person anymore……..I bitterly regretted those decisions I have made in the past……..I don’t know what has been going on between you and Christine……but I do not believe that you would do what she has said…….all the……” she gulped and closed her eyes as she remembered all of the horrific things that Christine had accused him of. “…….sex……” she trembled in his arms and he physically flinched at her words, his stomach rolling.

He closed his eyes and his chin wobbled as a tear escaped down his cheek. He pulled her back into a fierce embrace and sobbed into the crux of her neck. He had made mistakes; he knew he had…….and he didn’t know what the hell had happened tonight. The thought of what may have happened, made him close his eyes in horror, trying to block the dark thoughts out.

“I don’t know what happened……..the last thing I remember was having a whiskey that she had bought for me and then I was waking up on the bed with you looking at me”.

Christine made a groaning noise from the floor next to her feet making them both jump.

“Is she ok?” Anne asked nervously “I haven’t murdered her, have I?” she asked chewing her lip and wringing her hands. Gilbert couldn’t help but smile a little as he crouched down and examined their would-be assailant.

“No……..she just unconscious…….but she’s gonna have one hell of a headache tomorrow though” he sighed as he moved her hair to one side to see a little bump coming up on the back of her head where Anne had hit her with his award. He wobbled slightly and sat down on the floor next to Christine, his head still spinning. What the hell had happened tonight?

There was a sudden knock at the door and they both looked at each other.

“Security……open up please”.

Anne bent down and threw his boxers at him as she went to open up the door, Gilbert pulled himself up and sat on the bed and put his underwear back on, still feeling woozy. He started to tremble, unable to stop himself from shaking, he scooched backwards so his back was resting against the headboard of the bed and drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, his teeth chattering and he dropped his head onto his knees as he heard Anne let the hotel security team into the room and start to explain what had happened.

As it turned out Joe had followed Anne up to her room and had called for security when he had heard the shouting and an altercation taking place, he had been concerned for the Blythe’s welfare.

Anne came over to Gilbert and wrapped his tuxedo jacket around his shoulders to try and warm him up. She sat next to him on the bed as a blur of activity seemed to occur around them, the police and paramedics were called to check all three of them over. Gilbert sat with a silver emergency blanket around him as he couldn’t stop shivering, as a paramedic checked his pulse rate and blood pressure.

Christine regained consciousness about two minutes after the security guards arrived and had put restraints on her in case she turned violent again. Her blue eyes continued to bore unsettlingly into Gilbert as the activity around them took place, but he was unaware of it, refusing to look at her. She was eventually hauled out of the room by the police, her hands in hand cuffs and protesting that she was innocent, and the Blythe’s had tried to involve her in a sex game that she had refused to take part in.

Gilbert sat staring at the wall throughout the entire ordeal, his heart and mind racing, he couldn’t get his head around what had happened, his brain scrambled, trying to piece together everything that had happened.

“Dr Blythe……..Dr Blythe?” he heard a young male voice saying. He was aware of a figure dressed in a paramedic’s uniform sitting on bed in front of him. “Dr Blythe?”

“Uhm?” Gilbert said absently, turning his eyes to the man.

“Your wife is concerned that you have been drugged this evening”.

“Mm”.

“What do you remember?”

“I…….I don’t know……I……” he stuttered, desperately trying to remember the course of events that had taken place this evening. “……..Anne had to go home……I……got the award……” he mumbled, glancing over at the heavy glass award still sitting on the dresser as a police officer picked it up and put it into an evidence bag “…….I……..I can remember talking to Christine…….she said she was going to buy me a drink……I can remember her passing me the drink. And then…..I can’t remember…..” he petered out, his eyes going back to staring at the wall, his body still shivering.

“Can you remember how you felt after taking the drink from Miss Stuart?”

“Erm…….confused…….extreme brain fog…….I felt like I couldn’t move properly……and that’s all really……the next thing I knew I was waking up…….naked on the bed…….Christine was next to me……” he squeezed his eyes shut as the paramedic took notes, his heart twisted as he remembered seeing Anne’s devastated face as she stood at the end of the bed. He let out a small sob and pressed his face back into knees.

“It’s ok Gilbert…….take a few breaths” the paramedic soothed.

“Anne……where’s Anne?” he asked, looking around the room, suddenly panic stricken.

“She’s fine……. she’s in the ambulance just having the wound on her arm treated. We need to get you both back to the hospital…….We need to get a blood sample from you as soon as possible. Have you been to the bathroom since you regained consciousness?”

Gilbert shook his head.

The paramedic rummaged through his bag and gave him a urine sample pot “Can you go and do a sample for me please…….it will help to see what drugs if any have been used on you, the quicker we get a sample the better…..we will need to take you back to the hospital and do some tests to see if there has been any kind of sexual assault on you Dr Blythe………so please just do the urine sample, but don’t wash any parts of your body that may contain evidence……..ok?”. The paramedic said gently, looking at his patient’s pale face.

“Ok” he affirmed.

Gilbert stood up from his position on the bed and went into the bathroom, he saw Christine’s red dress on the floor in an evidence bag. He shut his eyes again in horror. This was all his fault, he had allowed Christine back into his life and she had deceived and fooled him again, how could he have been so stupid. She could have really hurt Anne; she was obviously completely unhinged. He stumbled into the bathroom and sat down on the side of the bath, trying to get his head together, his limbs still ached from the effects of the drugs. He tried to recall all that he knew about date rape drugs. He knew the first sign of being roofied is the onset of extreme brain fog. Victims also experience disorientation, difficulty focusing and concentrating, loss of muscle control, the sensation of paralysis and a feeling of extreme drunkenness. Some people may feel nauseated, and he knew that nearly everyone who’s given these drugs experiences lapses in memory.

He closed his eyes again and ran his hands through his hair, Christine had obviously drugged him. It explained everything, the brain fog, the temporary paralysis, but worse than anything was the loss of memory. His common sense told him that nothing physical could have happened between him and Christine, it was a physical impossibility. But what if she had done something to him, what if she had touched him……. He gulped for air and his stomach churned at the thought of it……if she had, it definitely had not been consensual. But just the thought of her lying naked next to his naked form in bed together made him start to shiver again and feel incredibly violated, tears coursing down his cheeks.

There was a knock on the bathroom door, he flinched as if he had been struck.

“Gil?......” he heard her voice on the other side of the door “Let me in……I’m worried about you”.

He stood up and unlocked the bathroom door with a shaking hand and sat back down on the side of the bath. He couldn’t look at her, but he felt her warm arms encircle him and she kissed the top of his hair. She pressed her warm body up to his “It’s ok Gil…….it’s all going to be ok” she cupped his face in her hands and kissed his cheeks, her kindness tipping him over the edge as he burst into tears and sobbed into her blood splattered dress, taking huge shuddering breaths and holding on tight to her as he buried his face into her neck. She ran her hands through his hair and fiddled with her favourite curl that she knew always relaxed him.

“It’s ok” she soothed between soft kisses to the top of his head and temple until he managed to control his breathing.

“I don’t know what she did to me” he cried “I can’t remember…….I don’t know what she did…….I’m so confused, I’m such a fucking idiot…….I let her back into my life…….she wanted to be friends again and I trusted her…….I forgave her……and she hurt you.….I’m such a stupid twat”.

“You let her back into your life?........what is that supposed to mean?” Anne queried, her hands stilling and her body tensing up.

He sat up out of her embrace and sniffed, wiping the snot from his nose away with the back of his hand. He squeezed his eyes shut again and bit his bottom lip. He began to shiver again. “I bumped into her about a year and a half ago…..it was the night that you nearly lost Walter, I was going to tell you, but when I got home, you were in bed, bleeding…….I couldn’t bring myself to tell you…….you….. or rather we, were so stressed about the bleeding, that meeting that bitch didn’t seem at all important anymore.” He shivered and dared to look up at her. She sighed and ran her hand through her long red hair, tucking a dishevelled strand behind her ear and then looked back at him.

“Gilbert……. why didn’t you just tell me?.......not telling me makes it look like you are hiding something”.

Gilbert looked back up at her, his eyes earnest and honest “I know” he admitted “I should have told you straight away……. I’m sorry…….” he paused wondering if he should tell her the truth, that he was afraid to tell her in case she ran again, but he didn’t want to make it sound as if he was blaming her for his own stupidity. Whilst he was mulling it over, she smiled sadly at him and ran her hand up and then back down the length of his muscular arm and squeezed his hand “I think we should get home as soon as we can. We can talk all about this later, come on do the sample and then then the paramedics want to get you to the hospital so that they can do more tests that the police need them to carry out.”

“The police?”

“Yes Gilbert…….she has drugged you and done goodness knows what to you, and then attacked us with a knife…….so unsurprisingly the police are quite interested”.

“Jesus” Gilbert muttered and closed his eyes again as the sheer horror of situation overwhelmed him.

He opened them again suddenly “How is your arm?” he looked down at her to see the top part of her arm was bandaged up, The sleeve of her dress now cut from shoulder to wrist, presumably so that the paramedics could treat her wounded arm. Blood all down the bodice and skirt of her white dress. “Jesus” he muttered again and placed his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees and rocked slightly back and forth as she tried to control his emotions, seeing what Christine had done to her. “I wish I’d fucking killed her” he muttered.

“Its ok Gil…….its just a slight flesh wound, it looks worse than it is…….honestly” she took hold of his wrists and peeled his hands away from his face.

“Did you need stitches?” he asked looking up at her.

“Just a couple of fabric ones”.

“They are no good, that will leave a scar, I’ll stitch it up properly for you when we get to the hospital”.

She smiled at him, trying to cheer him up “You were always Miss Simpkins’ favourite student in textile class at school…..” she arched a playful eyebrow at him….. “I seem to remember her crying when you told her you were dropping her class so that you could fit AP Biology into your timetable” she smiled warmly at him, and his heart flooded with love for her “Was that because of your perfect needle work or because of your charms Mr Blythe”.

He sat back up wearily and smiled softly back at her, his hair a mess and his skin pale, he looked exhausted. “My needlework……..definitely my needle work”.

“Are you sure? You didn’t give her a little prick, did you?” she laughed and he rolled his eyes at her and couldn’t help but smile “With your needle I mean” she laughed, and nudged him playfully with her elbow, “Oh and congrats on the award by the way” she said lightly “That came in rather handy didn’t it?” she grinned at him.

He looked up at her, his eyes suddenly filled with tears again, he pulled his lips over his teeth in an unhappy line “I love you so much” he squeaked in a high-pitched voice and fell back into her arms as she chuckled softly at him.

“I love you too, you stupid arse!......now piss in the damn pot so that we can get home to our babies”.

Chapter Text

Anne left the award ceremony and when she arrives home, Suzie tells her that she lied about Joy being ill to get her to come home on her own without Gilbert. Suzie tells Anne that she has seen Gilbert having sex with Christine and he is having an affair. Anne believes Suzie's lies and is devastated and looks at his ‘forgotten’ phone and sees all of the messages that Christine planted there earlier. Anne thinks that Gilbert will take advantage of the situation of her having to leave early, to hook up with Christine. Anne’s fears are confirmed when Christine sends some sexy messages to his phone whilst Anne is looking at it. Suzie persuades Anne to go back to the hotel to confront him.

On the way back to the hotel, Diana rings Anne after seeing an Instagram post from Christine indicating she is having an affair with Gilbert. Diana tells her she doesn’t believe it for one minute and that Christine is trying to mess with her. Diana makes Anne question who Suzie is and what she has told her. She warns Anne to be careful and think about how she handles this situation.

When Anne arrives back at the hotel, she searches for Gilbert, but cannot find him at the party, she knows he has gone to the room with Christine, she is just about to go upstairs and confront him, when she is intercepted by Joe, Christine’s ex-boyfriend. He warns her too that Christine is not right and is a psychopathic liar and tells her to be careful.

As Anne goes up to the room in the lift, she has flashbacks of her and Gilberts relationship, of what they have been through together. She thinks about ‘The passion, the fun, the teasing, the connection, the complete and utter love’ that her and Gilbert have shared over the years.

Back in the hotel room, Christine has staged it to look as though her and Gilbert have had sex. They have not had sex, but Christine has kissed him against his will whilst he is both groggy and unconscious. Anne enters just as Gilbert is regaining consciousness, Christine gasps in shock at being ‘caught’, but Anne can tell that there is something very wrong with Gilbert he is groggy and can hardly speak or move, she sees the desperate look in his eyes and suddenly realises that he would never cheat on her, all of the memories and Diana and Joe’s warnings colliding together in a stark moment of realisation that Christine has been trying to get rid of her so that she can make a move on Gilbert.

Gilbert is only just conscious and is still very groggy, he manages to tell Anne ‘no’ and ‘that he didn’t do it’ and Anne believes him.

She comes to the realisation that she has changed, she is no longer the frightened unloved orphan Anne Shirley, who has to run away every time she has a problem, but she is Anne Blythe now. Confident, successful, but most of all loved. She realises how he has always trusted her in the past and his love and faith in her has changed her life and who she is.

She stands up to Christine and is able to shut her down. Christine becomes violent when she realises, she has not won him, that Anne doesn’t believe her accusations and is not going to end their marriage. Christine becomes violent and pulls a knife out of her bag that she took from the dinner table wrapped up in her napkin. She fights with Anne and manages to slash the top of Anne's arms slightly with the knife and then hits her, knocking her to the ground.

Christine then turns the knife on Gilbert, not wanting Anne to have him if she cannot. Anne screams at Gilbert and he manages to wake up enough to fend of Christine long enough for Anne to get up and hit her over the head with Gilberts heavy glass Doctor of the Year award (in her signature style) knocking her unconscious.

Hotel security, paramedics and the police arrive who take Christine away and the Blythe’s are taken to hospital for treatment and tests.

Gilbert is traumatised and feeling a complete fool and Anne is trying to make him feel better.

Whilst this incident will sometimes be referenced during the rest of this story, there will be no graphic details.

Chapter Text

The day was beginning to break by the time the Police car pulled up outside the Blythe’s apartment. The summer heat had broken and there was a welcome and cooling breeze blowing through the city of Toronto. Gilbert had gone through an extensive array of tests to ascertain exactly what had been administered to him and to check him over for any signs of sexual assault. He had then indeed, taken Anne down to the Emergency Room and had neatly stitched her wound up for her after thoroughly examining her.

“The test results should be back within 24 to 48 hours Dr Blythe; we should be able to tell you then a bit more about what has or has not happened to you by then.” DCI Lomax said “Try to get plenty of rest…….and don’t worry about Miss Stuart, she is firmly locked up in the psychiatric wing of the hospital, and then she will be transferred to a detention centre after she has been monitored for 24 hours following the bang to her head”.

“Ok……. thank you for everything” Anne said. Gilbert had been strangely mute throughout the whole ordeal “Er…….am I likely to be prosecuted for hitting her” Anne asked nervously from the back seat, where she was at holding her silent husband’s hand.

“No……..even if she tried to press any kind of charge against you, it will quickly be thrown out by the prosecution service…….you were defending yourselves. Please don’t worry about that Mrs Blythe…….goodnight now……or rather good morning”. She smiled at them.

They were both quite exhausted as they stumbled into their apartment. It was still very early and they assumed that the children were still in bed as was Suzie.

Anne froze as still as a statue where she was stood the hallway, her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide and the colour draining out of her face.

‘SHIT!......Suzie!’ she thought. So much had been going on in her brain all night, she had not stopped to think what role Suzie must have played in this charade.

“What?” Gilbert said alarmed, picking up on his wife’s distress, without her having to say anything.

She suddenly realised that she hadn’t mentioned to her husband all of the things that Suzie had told her about him……. that She had seen him having sex with Christine.

Anne dropped her bag and fled to the children’s room without saying a word, Gilbert close behind her looking stricken. They both entered Joy and Jem’s room at a run, Anne banging the door open roughly, not caring if she woke a sleeping child up.

What they saw, neither of them was expecting.

This tale would be quoted by the Blythe’s for many decades to come.

First and foremost, Joy and Jem were both peacefully asleep in the lower bunk, just as Anne had last seen them before she had returned to the hotel.

But Suzie?

Suzie was cowering in the bucket chair in the corner of the room, her knees up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her eyes firmly fixed on Rusty who was sitting facing her, his ears back, his teeth bared and his tail like a bottle brush. Anne and Gilbert could clearly see several deep scratches on her arms and legs and even one on her cheek that had been inflicted by cat claws. Her eyes flicked fearfully up to Anne and Gilbert as they barged into the room, Rusty hissed at her menacingly and took a step closer towards her, for just moving her eyes. She flinched fearfully away from him.

Anne and Gilbert turned and gawked at each other. Rusty was preventing Suzie from leaving the apartment, protecting the children in their parents absence. She had tried to leave and Rusty had scratched her and pinned her down in the chair. If it had not been for the cats actions, the children would have been left alone in the apartment all night.

Gilbert clicked his tongue at him, “It’s ok Rust……. stand down mate” Gilbert said softly, still unaware of Suzie’s deceit.

Rusty got up and slinked over to his people, immediately pushing himself around Gilberts ankles, purring softly his tail wrapped around his master’s calf. Gilbert picked him up and turned him over in his arms and stroked his soft white underbelly, like he used to do when he was a kitten.

Anne took Rusty’s place in front of Suzie, her arms folded and her mouth set in a straight line.

“I think you have some explaining to do”. She said quietly but firmly.

Suzie nodded and dropped her feet cautiously down to the floor, tears slipping down her cheeks. Rusty eyed her suspiciously, from his position in Gilberts arms, his ears twitched back again, and his tail started to bush as Suzie walked a wide arc around him to leave the bedroom after Anne.

Gilbert followed them, closing the children’s bedroom doors after checking in on Walter too. ‘Seriously?’ he thought to himself ‘what the actual fuck was going on now?’

He popped Rusty down and went to put the kettle on. The two women sitting in silence at the table, Anne with her arms folded and a stern look on her face and Suzie looking down at the table cloth, unable to meet her employer’s gaze. He made three cups of tea and wearily put them down on the table and sank into a chair.

“So……” Anne said briskly “…..where do you want to start?”

Suzie wrapped her hands around the last cup of tea she would ever drink in the Blythe household and shrugged her shoulders.

“Ok then, I will start”.

Anne got up from her seat at the table and paced back and forth, her hand rubbing her forehead. She was as bad as Suzie; she didn’t know where to start either.

Gilbert Cleared his throat “Would somebody like to tell me what on earth is going on?”

“I’m Sorry!” Suzie suddenly burst out and started crying, startling Gilbert and making him spill tea on his scrubs that he had changed into at the hospital.

“She made me do it…….she made me do everything”.

“And what exactly is everything?”

Anne suddenly remembered something that Christine had said that evening. ‘He really is the best lover……. don’t you agree?......apart from all of that talking in his sleep of course……If I hear about one more medical procedure from those kissable lips, I think I will be able to pass my MCCR’s’.

How did Christine know about Gilberts sleep talking? Anne had shared his bed platonically with him enough times to know that the sleep talking started a couple of years after he had split up with Christine. In fact it was only a few years ago, when they had shared a bed in Antigua that she had noticed it for the first time.

So how on earth did Christine know about it?

Had she shared a bed with him recently?

Anne knew the answer to that question was a resounding ‘no’.

She looked back over at Suzie’s devastated face and noticed the cat scratch on it. Suddenly the penny dropped. She had told Suzie the morning that Rusty had scratched her the first time, that Gilbert talked in his sleep about medical procedures.

She turned and looked at Suzie.

“Look at me” Anne ordered harshly and Suzie looked at her with her deep blue eyes and tucked a strand of dark silky hair nervously behind her ear.

“It was you wasn’t it?........all of those little things…….all of those clues around the house, all of those items planted for me to find so that I would begin to doubt my husband…….that was you wasn’t it?……you planted them!......”

Gilbert head snapped around to look at their disgraced nanny. Suzie’s chin wobbled as she attempted to keep herself under control.

“You told Christine that Gilbert talks in his sleep…….I told you that, when I was looking after you……when Rusty had scratched you the first time……you were like a sister to me Suzie…….how could you!” Tears flooded down Anne’s cheeks.

“What!” Gilbert said aghast.

“She” Anne pointed at Suzie “has been attempting to manipulate me for months Gil…….the photo album……..the long dark hair in the bed……” Gilbert head snapped back to his wife when she said that. Anne had never told him about all of the things she had found or about her doubts and insecurities that had led to them having problems in their marriage over the last year or so. “This isn’t just about what you told me tonight is it? This has been going on for months……. these lies, this deception” Anne started pacing again “I fucking trusted you, I let you look after my children!” she slammed her hands down on the table making both Suzie and Gilbert jump.

Gilbert shook his head confused. “What the hell has been going on here?” he demanded, looking at Suzie, his jaw set and his eyes angry. Suzie quailed under his stare, she had never seen Dr Blythe angry, he was always so kind and affable with her.

Anne turned to face Gilbert. “She lied to me tonight Gil…..about Joy being ill, she lied to me to get me to come home alone……to get me out of the way so that Christine could drug you and take you back to our room at the hotel……..she then told me she had seen you and Christine having sex in your office……”

Gilbert turned white and glowered angrily at Suzie “What!”

“She’s been lying for months……. manipulating both of us……. she told me that she suspected that you had been having sex with Christine here……in our bed……. whilst I was in Paris……she even planted a long dark hair on my pillow…….I just thought it was Diana’s at the time as she was here when I got home.”

Gilbert sat frozen at the table; his mind barely able to take any more.

Suzie pulled her knees back up to her chest in an attempt to make herself disappear, to protect herself.

“I’m sorry” she sobbed again “I had too……. she made me do it…….I had no choice”.

“We all have choices to make Suzie……. you could have chosen to tell us what was going on, instead of lying and cheating”. Anne sat back down in her chair and glared at Suzie. “So…….like I said……you have some serious explaining to do.”

Suzie gulped and took a sip of her tea, she lowered her legs back down onto the floor and looked at both Anne and Gilbert sadly.

“Before I start, I need you to know that I would never EVER have harmed you or the children……in fact I have come to love you like my family” she paused her mouth downturned in an unhappy line.

“But you have Suzie……don’t you see that….you have harmed us……”

Anne took one of Gilberts old hoodies off that had he had left in his office at the hospital and showed Suzie her bandaged up arm. Suzie turned pale and pressed her fingertips into her eyes to try and stop the tears. “Did she do that…….did Christine hurt you?”

Anne nodded and slipped the hoody back on “She came at us with a knife Suzie, she caught my arm and she went to stab Gilbert in the neck” Anne blanched and Gilbert reached out across the table and held her hand. “She could have killed one of us Suzie”.

“Jesus” Suzie whimpered “I’m so sorry” she cried, wiping tears away from her cheeks. “I had no idea she had a knife or anything, you were just supposed to suspect him of having an affair……..find him in bed with her and then leave him……that’s what she made me do…..that is all she told me that the plan was”.

“So you are telling me that you were part of this……you were helping Christine to destroy our marriage?.....Our family?” Gilbert put his head in his hands, his leg wagging rapidly up and down under the table, what the fuck had been going on……right under his own roof. He bit his lip, trying not to shout at Suzie to release his anger with her. She had been looking after his children and planning to ruin all of their lives, he wanted to just immediately throw her out of the house. But they needed answers, in order to get closure on this mess, Suzie needed to talk.

“I’m sorry you got hurt Anne……. but you don’t know what she is really like……..she is evil, she manipulates, she lies and she blackmails……..she has been blackmailing me…….forcing me to do her biding…….nobody can stand up to her” She gulped and took another shaky sip of tea.

Anne and Gilbert just stared at her, waiting for her to continue, so she cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “Christine Stuart is my cousin……although we were raised together as if we were sisters. Our parents are very close, our fathers are brothers, and Ronald, Christine and I were all raised on the Stuarts very large estate in Montreal. Our family is a very wealthy and very religious one. The Stuart reputation in Montreal is everything, our families were amongst the first settlers in the area……Baker is my mother’s maiden name…..” Suzie paused and tucked a short strand of hair behind her ear “Christine has always been a manipulative liar for as long as I can remember……..I am 6 years younger than her and as I grew up, I grew to idolised my beautiful older cousin……she was everything to me, and everything I thought I wanted to be……..that was until I was old enough to see her for what she really was………a narcissist. I saw how she lied and manipulated people around her, who all thought that butter wouldn’t melt. Her parents and brother adored her and treated her like she was a valuable china doll……..I saw how she cheated on Andrew with a string of guys whilst they were dating at high school………she even got pregnant by one of them when she was only 15, and had an abortion……..she didn’t tell anybody that of course…….she told them all she needed a mole removing…….that’s what her own child was to her…….just a thing that needed taking away”.

Suzie shook her head and looked up at the ceiling letting out a long breath.

“As I got older, I found myself at Christine’s beck and call……..I tried telling Ronald about some of the atrocious things I had witnessed her doing, but he thought I was making it up……and just laughed at me…….I was always the silly little cousin……. Christine was always very clever with how and who she manipulated…….so that she would never get found out. What Christine wanted, Christine got……..that was until she met you…….”.

She looked up directly at Gilbert with her deep blue eyes. Now that he looked at her in a different light, Gilbert could actually see a resemblance between her and Christine. It sent an unpleasant shiver down his spine, and he looked away from her, not wanting to be reminded of her in any way.

“You were the first person to have the bollocks to stand up to her……. when you dumped her, Andrew told her parents about you and what she had done, that’s why she had to go back to Montreal to ‘give it another go with Andrew’. She went back kicking and screaming all the way…… The Stuarts of Montreal couldn’t afford to have the scandal of a daughter who cheated. Her parents paid Andrew off and he agreed to try again with her. The silly fool did actually still love her at that stage. So, they got married and everyone thought she had settled down”.

“How did you get involved in all of this?” Anne asked.

Suzie hesitated and wrapped her arms around her chest, her hands rubbing up and down her own biceps, in an attempt to self sooth.

“You have to understand how strict my parents are…….how orthodox, My father is high up in the church” She paused again and Anne nodded “Christine found out about Alex……”

“You’re boyfriend?” Gilbert asked.

“Well therein lies the problem…….Alex is a girl……not a boy” she paused again and ran her hands over her face “Christine found out that I……I am gay, and she has been threatening to tell the family about Alex and I…….my family would never stand for that, I would be forced to leave the woman I love” tears filled her eyes and she looked away from the Blythe’s.

“So, you nearly ripped our family apart, just because you are ashamed of being outed by your cousin!” Anne hissed. “Do you realise that Christine could have killed one of us tonight!”

Again, Suzie shook her head and sobbed. “I’m sorry , but it was your relationship or mine…..It was never supposed to go that far……you have to believe me that I had no idea that she was planning on hurting you…….I was just supposed to befriend you and start to undermine your relationship…….to start to plant doubts in your mind about your husbands faithfulness, so that when you discovered them in bed together…..like you did tonight……you would be more likely to leave him……because it would be confirming all of your doubts and fears.”

“For fucks Sake!” Gilbert growled and got up and paced, his fists clenched and his face white with rage as he realised at last Suzie’s involvement in Christine’s scheme. “You fucking came into my house, looked after my children and tried to ruin this family…..”.

Suzie looked up at him “I’m sorry” she repeated “I didn’t want to do it, the more I got to know you, the more I loved you all” she was now sobbing “I tried to say no……I refused to do some of the things she asked me to do…….she made me tell her all sorts of things, she made me look in your bedroom to discover what contraceptives you were using…..” She blushed, mortified that she was having to confess to this “…….I found your pill Anne and no condoms….” she gulped, as Gilbert carried on pacing, his hand over his mouth to stop himself from yelling obscenities at the young woman. “She actually gave me a used condom……from her and Joe…….she wanted me to plant it somewhere in the apartment after you came back from Paris, so that you would find it and think he had had sex with somebody else whilst you were away.”

“Jesus fuck” Gilbert glowered at her.

“…….But I didn’t do it…….I threw it away in the park, when I was out with the kids…….she was disgusting…..” she cried into her hands.

“So, I can assume the long dark hair in the bed was you?” Anne said icily.

Suzie nodded “She gave me that at the same time as the condom……she even forced me to get my hair cut so you didn’t think it was me who he was having an affair with” she tucked a short strand behind her ear and looked up nervously at Gilbert. He just sat back down in his chair and started to tremble with rage……he couldn’t take much more of this before he lost it.

“I’m sorry Gilbert”.

He just shook his head and stared at the table, unable to look at her let alone forgive her actions.

“Has Ron been involved in this too?” He asked quietly.

“No, absolutely not, he knows nothing about this, he doesn’t even know that I am working for you”.

“WERE!” Anne hissed at her, and her face fell even more.

Suzie took another sip of her now cold tea, her hand shaking. “Ron was just an unknowing pawn in all of this……just another convenience for Christine to exploit…….she was on a FaceTime call with me that time that you texted me, when you first went out for dinner with Ron at Alo’s……I showed her the text and so she jumped in her car and came over to join you…….Ron had no idea she was going to show up…….she just got lucky that night.”

“So you were constantly feeding her information about us?”

“I told her all sorts of things, like when you were available to have lunch with her…… When Anne was in Paris…..”

Anne looked at Gilbert sharply, they still had a lot to discuss.

“…….I told her when Alison was off sick and you were working late last week…..so she went over to see you in your office, she stole Joes security pass to get access to your office area……but when she got there, you were asleep at your desk. That’s when she stole your phone and planted more damming evidence for Anne to find……loads of flirty text messages and things…….and photographs…..I stole Gilberts phone out of his jacket pocket tonight, before you left, to make sure that you saw all of the messages she had sent, and all of the pictures when you got back to the apartment tonight. ”

“What!” Gilbert exclaimed, horrified. His phone had been taken by the police to be examined so he was unable to check it.

Anne put her head in her hands, remembering all of those texts and photographs that Christine had sent to Gilberts phone, all unbeknownst to him.

Christine had nearly fooled her.

Gilbert had been innocent in all of this and she had nearly taken the children and run back to Green Gables, just as Christine had expected her too. Her plan to destroy them had very nearly worked.

Suzie blushed “I also put the photograph album that Christine had given me into the box where Anne’s passport was…….I knew she would find it there as she was flying to Paris the next day”.

Gilbert at least looked relived about that “I knew I didn’t keep that damn thing, I sent it back with the rest of her things after we split up”.

Suzie nodded in confirmation.

Suzie looked over at Anne “I also put the concert flyer in his work bag…….he made the mistake of telling me that he had bought some candles because you always forgot, and he had hidden them in his work bag, so when you remembered, he could prove to you how well he knows you by making you get the candles out of his bag…….He thought it would be funny…….so I put the flyer in there for you to find.”

“Shit you even tried to comfort me that day……. you saw me crying……after I had found that flyer.” This made Gilbert look up at Anne “……and you tried to comfort me!........how could you Suzie?.......we trusted you with everything that we held precious…….and you have betrayed us and the children, in the worst possible way……. we could have split up…….I could have taken his children away from him…….from their father”.

“I know……I’m sorry…….as time went on, it became harder and harder…….I began to love you guys like family…….in fact you are better than my family” she tried to laugh, but was only greeted with two stone cold stares from her employers. “I never wanted to hurt you…..she made me do it……you can see now how manipulative she is……I had no choice”.

“Your choices Suzie have put me and my family at a huge risk!.......not only have you spied on us. Invaded our privacy and actively worked to pull this family apart…….our children could have become orphans tonight……and you could have stopped it before it started by telling us what was going on……how can you sit there and tell me that you loved this family, loved our children, yet you were willing to put their future and their happiness at risk, just to save yourself an awkward conversation with your parents.” Anne seethed.

Suzie closed her eyes and tears of shame rolled down her face.

“I’m sorry” she whimpered again “If I knew then what I do now……I wouldn’t do it again……If I could turn back time and take everything back that had hurt you then I would…….Christine needs help……but at least I am telling you the truth now…….you now know all that stuff that you found was planted, because I have just told you the truth…….you can be happy now”.

“You know what…….I think you are worse than her……Christine obviously has some mental health issues……but you?......you did all of this and you are as sane as I am…….you knew what you were doing was wrong, but yet you still carried on doing it” Gilbert seethed. “I cannot believe we trusted you…….I think its time you left……” he stood up from the table and folded his arms, anger radiating from his face.

Suzie looked up at him, she had never seen him look angrier, she dithered for a few seconds, wiping her tears away.

“I mean it……GO!” Gilbert yelled at her his rage barely concealed.

She immediately jumped up, trembling and made to go to the children’s bedroom to get her bag.

“Oh no you fucking don’t” Gilbert grabbed hold of her arm lightly to stop her. “You are never going near them again”.

Suzie’s mouth fell into an unhappy downward line and she sobbed “Can I at least say goodbye to them?”.

“NO!” both parents said at once.

Anne marched into the bedroom and retrieved her bag for her and threw it at her chest where she caught it, Gilbert still standing like a tall guardian by his children’s bedrooms.

She turned away from them and started to make her way down the hallway for the last time.

“We will be informing the police of the role that you have taken in all of this Suzie; you should never work with children again” Gilbert said.

She turned and looked at them sadly “I know and I’m sorry…….Please tell the children that I loved looking after them…..and I will miss them……” and with that she turned and walked out of the door, leaving Gilbert and Anne Blythe frozen to the spot. The horror of the last few hours finally sinking in as they held each other tightly and sobbed in their hallway.

Chapter Text

Four days later.

Gilbert sat alone on the beach.

His knees bent up and his arms wrapped around them as he stared out into the Atlantic Ocean. The sea breeze blowing his curls in all directions. He dug his toes into the red sand and wiggled them. He had always loved coming to the beach when he was a kid……..the feel of the sand between his toes, always took him back to those happy days. His Mum and Dad in the front seats of the car. The windows open, blowing his mums long blonde hair around. The radio on, playing all of their favourite tunes on a cassette mix tape that his mother had made especially for their beach days. That was long before the days of Apple Music, MP3’s, or even CD’s. There were no car seats or even seat belts in the back of the car when he was very little and he could remember sliding around on the back seat of the car that he had had all to himself as they wound their way around the twisting lanes that led from Blythe Farm to the coast.

He often wondered how his life would be different if he had had brothers and sisters, he knew that his parents had desperately tried to have more children, but that had never happened for them, he knew that he was their miracle baby.

They were ‘a unit of a three, a triangle, the strongest structure that there was’, that’s what his mum had told him when he had asked for a little brother or sister. That was until John Blythe got a letter out of the blue from a teenage boy in Trinidad called Sebastian……..who was the son he didn’t know that he had.

Gilbert wondered if he would still be the same person that he was today if he had had those brothers and sisters growing up……or even knew of Bash’s existence. Would all of the sibling rivalry have taught him something that he now lacked in his life?…….if he had had a younger sister, would he have teased the girls so much in school? Would an elder brother have put him firmly in his place and made him a less ‘cocky bastard’ as Fred always liked to call him back then?

Would it have taught him a valuable lesson that would have enabled him to read people better? Would it have made him a less gullible fool……. always trying to see the best in people?

He sighed and gazed out at the horizon where the sun was just beginning to rise, and dug his toes deeper into the sand.

More than anything a day at the beach when he was a child meant uninterrupted time with his father. His father was a farmer and had always worked from dawn until dusk. When he was little in the summer, he sometimes would not see his father for days at a time, as he was up and out of the house before Gilbert even got up and didn’t come home until after Gilberts bed time. He used to dream that his father came in every night and kissed his sweaty little curls once he had gone to sleep, he could almost smell the engine oil from the farm machinery and the fresh scent of apples as he slept.

But even on those long summer days when he hardly saw his father, he knew that he loved him. But it made all the time that they did spend together all the more precious. Those beach days had seemed endless…….he never once stopped to think that one day they would come to an end. That one day he would want to leave home and spread his wings, live a thousand miles away from everyone and everything that made him feel safe. In a city where there were no beaches, no roaring ocean, no shells to collect in his little red bucket as his father held his hand and walked along the shore line, the wet sand squelching between his toes. His mother used to tell a story about how he suddenly burst into tears one night totally out of the blue at bedtime when he was about five, and had announced that he never wanted to grow up and leave home and that he wanted to live with his Mummy and Daddy forever.

He had always felt safe, he had always felt loved and cherished. Whilst his parents had always impressed upon him the importance of stranger danger, Gilbert had never needed to be particularly suspicious of people and their intentions towards him. He had grown up in a small farming town, where everybody knew each other and each other’s business and there was a strong sense of community. Yes, they bitched and gossiped about each other but if the neighbours were ill or fell on hard times then the community rallied. When his father was ill and was diagnosed with cancer, Gilbert remembered accepting three different casseroles from three different neighbours just on one afternoon. He can remember his mother baking countless apple pies to take to others when they fell on difficult times, he was the one usually dispatched to deliver said pies, making everyone in the village love him even more than they already did when they saw him coming whistling up their path with a famous Blythe apple pie in his hands to gift to them.

He had been brought up in the heart of a supportive community and everybody had loved him.

Gilbert Blythe, Avonlea Golden Boy.

Gilbert Blythe, Star Pupil.

Gilbert Blythe, The Cooper Prize Winner.

Gilbert Blythe, Doctor

Gilbert Blythe, Father

Gilbert Blythe, Husband

Gilbert Blythe, Doctor of the Year.

He shivered and dropped his head into his knees.

Gilbert Blythe………

He didn’t know who he was anymore.

Gilbert Blythe, Prize Gullible Idiot, was probably the closest to what he currently felt at the moment.

He closed his eyes, his head still buried in his bare knees as he sat crunched up as small as he could make himself on the beach.

As soon as he closed his eyes, it happened again.

The image of Anne’s tear-stained face as she stood at the end of the hotel bed. Her white dress, her red hair, her green eyes, glowing, radiating pain, popped straight into his head.

He put his hands over his ears and tried to deaden the sound of the roaring waves. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was that image of his wife. Heartbroken, shattered, destroyed, and it was all of his stupid, stupid fault.

He was used to being exhausted, but this was exhaustion on a whole new level……. the boss level of exhaustion. He hadn’t slept since that night…….he hadn’t been able to climb between the sheets with his wife and fall into a peaceful sleep…….he felt like that would never happen again…….he couldn’t let his guard down…….he needed to stay awake.

Stay awake to protect his family.

In fact, he hadn’t gotten into bed with her since they had gotten home from the hospital and chucked Suzie out of the house. Anne had been exhausted and had gone and put her night things on ready to go to bed, to get a few hours sleep before the children woke up. He couldn’t though, he felt dirty, polluted……. he couldn’t be near her. She was his angel; she had protected him when she needed him to protect her from Christine. He could still hear her desperate and terrified shriek as she screamed his name as Christine lunged at him with the knife. He was the one that should have been hurt, not her. But it was her who was going to bear the scar on the top of her arm for the rest of her life. He knew that every time he saw it, it would be a reminder of what a total fool he was.

He shivered in the weak early morning sunshine.

He had spent every night since, sitting on the floor of his children’s bedroom, he had even moved Walter’s cot into Joy and Jem’s shared room so he could keep his eye on all three of them all night. Anne had begged and pleaded with him to come to their bed, she had tried every weapon in her arsenal, eventually resorting to sleeping next to him on the floor of the children’s bedrooms as he kept his nightly vigil.

After three nights of this, there had been a knock on the door and Gilbert had warily answered it to a concerned looking Bash. Anne had called in the cavalry. Only a few hours later, they had found themselves packed up and all heading for the airport. The children thrilled at the prospect of going back to the Island - which always felt like a holiday for them - for a few days as a ‘surprise trip’. Anne and Bash hadn’t had to work too hard to persuade him to take a much needed break, the hospital had already insisted that he take a couple of weeks off work sick following his ordeal and that suited him fine, as he didn’t want to be away from Anne or the children, even for the day. But the further away from Toronto he was……the better.

Or more to the point, the further away from the Stuarts he was the better.

Ron had called over the morning after they had gotten back to the hospital and Gilbert had refused to see him, just the thought of looking in to his deep blue eyes sent cold shivers down his spine. Ron had sent him a text apologising for what his family had put him and Anne through and informing him that he was applying for a transfer. He hadn’t seen that text though, as his phone had been taken by the police as it contained evidence against Christine.

He looked down at his bare fourth finger on his left hand, and ran his thumb across the underside of it. The police had even taken his wedding ring in as evidence, as it had been recovered from the bed in the hotel room. He hated not wearing it, he had worn it for years even before they were married, it now felt as if it was part of him. Looking down at his naked finger, just reminded him of the time when he and Anne had fallen out and he had cast it into the Caribbean Sea.

“Don’t worry…….it will find it’s way back to you…….it always does…….just like me” he heard her voice say behind him.

He turned slightly and looked up at her. She was wearing a long white nightdress that was whipping around her calves in the sea breeze, with his chunky off-white cotton jumper over the top which was too big for her and dwarfed her small frame. Her arms were wrapped around herself and her long red hair was wild and blowing behind her. The sun was illuminating the myriad of different shades in her hair, red, golden, copper and bronze. Gilbert thought she had never looked more beautiful.

She sat down next to him on the cool sand and mirrored his position, knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She turned her head towards him and rested her right cheek on her knees. She reached out her left arm and rubbed a soothing circle on her husband’s back. He was dressed in his denim cut off shorts and a faded old high school hoody.

“Did you get any sleep?” she asked eventually.

He shook his head, still looking out to sea.

“Gil…….you will make yourself ill, please come back to bed with me…….”

He pressed his lips together and shook his head again.

She moved closer to him so that she was right up next to him and she rested her head on his shoulder. He moved his arm and put it around her and rested his left cheek on top of her head.

“Is Bash still with the children?” he asked.

“Yes…….I checked before I came out to look for you……..I knew you would be here……”.

All five Blythe’s had flown from Toronto back to PEI with Bash. After Anne’s SOS call to Gilberts brother, he had managed to rent their honeymoon cottage on the beach for them to have a much needed break. Bash and Mary were also staying with them to give them a hand distracting the children. Gilbert had refused to be separated from them and as Bash and Mary wanted to help out, staying with them was the only answer.

“They are safe Gil……Christine is locked up…….”. Anne felt him tense up at her name. “…….and I truly believe that Suzie would never do anything to hurt them……. you know that right?”.

He just stared out into the distance and the wind whipped around them, the sky a dazzling kaleidoscope of pinks and oranges as the sun inched its way along it’s ancient path higher in the sky. It didn’t matter what happened to them today or tomorrow, the world would still carry on turning, the moon would still track its way around the earth and the tides would keep on coming in and going out, just as they had done for millennia and would do for many more millennia to come.

“I have made too many mistakes” he whispered, surprising Anne.

He had barely spoken a word since he had learnt of Suzie’s part in Christine’s deception, the lengths at which Christine had gone to to destroy their marriage had shocked him to his very core. She had managed to infiltrate his home, to put his children at risk. If it had not been for Rusty, Suzie would have left the apartment that night, and left the children on their own. Gilbert had almost cried when he had had to leave Rusty back at the apartment when they had come away to the Island the day before. The big ginger cat had guarded the children each night alongside Gilbert, curled up on his knee. His green eyes open and fixed on the door.

“We all make mistakes Gil, we are humans……..it is in our very nature. But tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it……..we have to look forward……..not backwards……” she sighed nuzzling up to him, enjoying feeling the warmth of his body next to hers. They had not made love since that night. In fact, he hadn’t even kissed her on the lips since. She understood why, he felt sullied. She had felt it too when Jack had kissed her.

“But some mistakes are worse than others……. have more far-reaching consequences”.

“All mistakes are equal……. but some are more equal than others”. She mused softly, remembering the argument they had had over George Orwell’s Animal Farm in English Lit all those years ago.

She felt his body relax, and he kissed the top of her head.

She suddenly felt his hot warm tears in her hair.

“Gil?” she tried to pull away from him to look up at him, but he held her firmly in the position she was in, tucked up against his side, her head on his chest.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Christine……I should have told you straight away……I was a fool”.

Anne stilled, this was the first time he had talked about it, whenever she had tried to bring up the conversation that they desperately needed to have he would just shake his head, indicating that he was not ready to talk about it yet. So, she just sat still and prepared herself to listen to him.

“I was a fool of the worst kind……I didn’t tell you…….I knew I should do, but the longer I left it the worse it got. When I told you I had let her back into my life, you need to know that everything she said was untrue……I saw her maybe five or six times over that 18-month period.

“The first time was at Alo’s like I told you that night, she just turned up…….we know now that Suzie had told her where I was going and that I would be back late…….that night she begged for my forgiveness for how she had treated me, she owned her mistakes and asked if we could be friends again. Ron was there, we had just picked our friendship back up and stupidly, I felt rude denying her that. I thought I would just look childish, so I consented and said we could be friends again, she asked if she could text me and I reluctantly said yes. I never initiated any texts between us……you have to believe me on that……..all of those chats you saw on my phone…….whatever they were, I didn’t even notice them there…….she must have created them that night that she found me asleep in my office”.

He paused for a moment and she picked his hand up with hers and softly kissed the back of it.

“She brought lunch to my office on two occasions” he quietly confessed “Once was very early on, in fact it was the day that I met with UCLH about the Spina Bifida surgery…….I didn’t stay for lunch with her…..I was glad I had an excuse to get away…….but I stupidly told her she could eat alone in my office. When I got back Alison told me you had found the pink cardigan that she had planted there”.

He was silent for a few minutes and Anne stroked small circles on the back of his hand with her thumb, reassuring him silently that it was ok to proceed when he was ready.

“The second time was when you were in Paris……I am most ashamed about this part Anne……I …..that was the only occasion I did lie to you, and I am so sorry, I was just afraid to tell you……..you were thousands of miles away and I didn’t want to argue with you, I just wanted to talk to you…….I was missing you so much…….”

“She was in your office with you, wasn’t she?” Anne correctly guessed.

“Yeah……..she brought lunch again, every time she told me it was for somebody else and she had been stood up…….trying to make me feel sorry for her…….I was so stupid…….I should have just shut her down…….I never would have imagined that she was working so hard to wreck us……she seemed so friendly and polite………I am so sorry I lied to you Anne”.

Anne shivered in his arms and he held her closer to his body.

“Other than that, I saw her a few times at the hospital, she sometimes joined Ron and I at lunch time, but I always made my excuses and got away as quickly as I could…….I changed a tyre for her one afternoon……I expect she set that up too. She sent me a friend request on Instagram and Facebook, but I never accepted them……I didn’t even want to be friends on that level with her…….”

“The last time I saw her before the awards evening was when I was taken ill at work, I guess when I look back, she was probably waiting for me outside my office……I thought at the time it was just a coincidence that she happened to be there….I was sick, in front of her and she took me back to my office and I slept on the couch……she stayed the whole time I was asleep……God knows what she did in there” Anne felt him shake his head, that still rested on her hair. “When I woke up we chatted a little, I could see it in her eyes that she was hurt by the fact that we were now together…….she asked me ‘why she was never enough for me’……. and then she told me that she loved me…….but I thought it was just a slip of the tongue, I think that’s what I wanted to believe, the alternative was too alarming for me to process”.

He paused for a minute as he thought carefully about what he was about to say.

“I apologised to her for never being fully invested in our relationship…….I told her that it was always you, that I did love her in a way when we were dating……” he felt Anne tense up in his arms “……..But I told her that I always loved you more…….I felt bad for my part in the breakdown of our relationship…….she was right, she was never going to be enough for me……because I was so utterly in love with you……nobody else ever stood a chance” he felt Anne relax slightly and he kissed the top of her head. He closed his eyes and felt weary. He concentrated on the sounds of the ocean, the familiar call of the gulls up in the blue sky above them and her soft body pressed up beside his, he had missed her over the last few days. Even though she had been by his side the whole time, he had felt strangely disconnected from her. He could have avoided all of this pain if he had just told her about Christine that first evening, or any other time come to that.

This was all his fault and he knew that.

The image of her distraught face as she stood at the end of the hotel bed, filled his minds eye again, and his eyes flew wide open.

He had let her down. Let his family down. He felt as if he had failed.

Gilbert Blythe, Failure.

That’s it, that’s who he was now.

Xx

Anne sat on the beach with her husband’s arm around her and listened as he talked. She had awoken earlier to find him missing from his sentry post next to the children’s beds and Bash in his place. Bash had told her that he had woken up just before dawn and had tried to persuade Gilbert to go and get into bed with her. Gilbert had refused. The best Bash could do was to convince him to get his sorry ass outside and get some fresh air whilst he stayed with the children. This was the furthest he had been away from them since they had gotten home from the hospital, and that was only because Gilbert trusted Bash so implicitly.

Anne had sensed a shift in her husband, something within him had fundamentally changed after his experience with Christine. He had always been so trusting, it was one of the things that she loved about him, but now she feared that he had been ruined in that respect, that he would never trust anybody ever again.

He had been through a terrible ordeal, and what was making it worse was that he didn’t know what had happened to him during the time that he was unconscious. He was hoping that the lab results from all of the swabs that had been taken after he was drugged would throw some light onto what Christine may or may not have done to him whilst he had blacked out. DCI Lomax had been in contact with them to tell them that there was a back log at the lab and that therefore the test results would be delayed by a couple of days. She had seen how Gilberts face had fallen when she had told him this news. He had been anxiously awaiting them and the delay was only adding to his mounting state of distress. She had found him in tears on several occasions, usually as he sat and watched the children sleep.

“I felt bad for my part in the breakdown of our relationship……. she was right, she was never going to be enough for me……because I was so utterly in love with you……nobody else ever stood a chance” She felt her body relax and he softly kissed the top of her head.

“I love you Anne……you still are and always will be everything to me……...all this has made me realise more than ever that you and the kids are the only important thing in my life.” He whispered into her hair; his breath warm on her skin.

“I love you too Gil” She picked his hand up and kissed it again, and pressed his palm against her cheek, pressing light kisses to his wrist. She felt him sigh and the tension on his body started to dissolve.

She sat up and pulled away from him so that she could look at his eyes.

“Why didn’t you just tell me Gil?......”

He dropped his arm from around her and wrapped it back around his knees and stared out to sea.

There was a long silence as the waves crashed rhythmically against the shoreline, he glanced at her and then looked away, closing his eyes briefly as he admitted, “I was afraid”.

He said simply and gulped and turned to look at her as she digested his words, her face pale as her red hair whipped around in the wind.

“Afraid?......afraid of what?”

He looked away again and then rested his head on his knees.

How was he supposed to tell her that he hadn’t told her about Christine because he was afraid of her reaction, that she would jump to the wrong conclusion and assume the worse of him? The absolute last thing he wanted to do was to make it sound like he was blaming her for everything that had gone wrong that night. If Gilbert Blythe was good at one thing, it was realising his mistakes and owning them. That was something that Anne had taught him all of those years ago. The Gilbert Blythe that existed before Anne Shirley was a very different one to the one that sat next to her on the beach now. The old Gilbert Blythe was a prankster, a joker, somebody who always pushed the boundaries and somebody who always managed to worm his way out of every difficult situation he got himself into using his significant charms. But Gilbert Blythe 2.0, the updated version, was one who had been taught that one simply could not just smile and give somebody a twinkle of his beautiful eyes and all would be forgiven. No, Anne Shirley had taught him to be humble, to be respectful and she had taught him to accept his mistakes in life and to apologize. Making him wait five years for her forgiveness was one of the best lessons that anybody had ever taught the young scholar, making him mature and giving him the personal growth to become who he was today. He always told her he would not be the man he is today without her and it was true, he meant it.

“I was an idiot Anne” he said eventually, raising his head up from his knees, but still not looking at her.

A silence stretched between them again, as he thought about what he needed to say to his wife.

“I underestimated you…..I was afraid of your reaction……I made excuses to myself that first night after I met her at Alo’s…….it was partly true, I didn’t want you to get all fired up and upset about it when we were already so upset about the threatened miscarriage……..but I think if I am truly honest with myself I was being selfish, because I didn’t want to admit to myself that I should have just shut her down that first night. I should have just walked away, made a scene in the restaurant……who cares? Who cares if she got upset? That night I ultimately put her need, and my need to be seen as a nice guy, or Mr Popular or being seen to be a gentleman or polite……I put that all over what is the most important thing in the world to me…...Your needs and the children’s needs….and ultimately your happiness…….. If I am honest, I didn’t want to admit that I had made a serious error in my judgement that night.”

He eventually looked over at her and she was staring out to sea.

“You were afraid that I would run and take the children with me, weren’t you?.......you were afraid to tell me about Christine because I have never given you the benefit of the doubt before?”

“This isn’t your fault Anne……. this was all me…….my stupidity.”

Anne shook her head; she still did not look at him.

“Yes or No Gilbert. Where you afraid that I would over react and run……. like I did when I was pregnant with Joy?”

She looked over at him and she could tell he was trying not to cry; his lips were pressed together and his chin was wobbling. His fingertips pressing hard into his own forearms as he struggled with his emotions. He didn’t want her feeling as though any of this was her fault.

“Yes or no Gilbert?” she asked again, looking at him with her big green eyes.

“Yes……” he whispered, before the damn broke and he sobbed into his own knees, his back shaking.

Anne closed her eyes and a tear slipped down her cheek.

She had to admit to herself that she had been ready to do just that, to take the children and run. To not tell him where she was, to get away from him, to hurt him as much as she thought he had hurt her. Had it not been for Diana and Joe, she may have ruined all of their lives. She may have over reacted just as he feared.

But she felt different now, as soon as she had seen him in that room, on the bed with Christine, she knew in her heart that something was not right, and when she had seen the sheer desperation in his stricken eyes, she knew he would never hurt her.

“You are right Gilbert……..” she said at last. He raised his head up off his knees and looked at her stricken.

“What!” he gasped.

She put her hand on his arm to reassure him “…….I have to admit that I was close to doing just that…….I was close to running…….close to ending it……..I thought we were through……..up until I saw you in that room…….I believed all of Christine and Suzie’s Lies……”.

Gilberts face fell, like she had crushed his heart. His world started to tumble down around him. He closed his eyes and began to rock back and forth slightly on the sand. His head pressed into his hands.

“On my way to the room though my head was spinning and I could hardly breath…….my mind was full of you……..everything we have been through, every trail and tribulation, every stumbling step on the broken road. I thought about all of those times you stood by me, when you elbowed Danny in the face, how you exacted revenge on Roy for me. How you made me see the truth in you when you saved Matthew’s life. For all of the fun and Joy you have brought into my life Gil……. Yes, pun intended…..” she smiled as he dared to glance back up at her “You supported and championed me through every single word of my book, believed me when I told you about Jack kissing me…….you believed me, had faith in me, even before you saw that video on YouTube…….you have told me about your dreams Gil, how I have made them come true…….but you have made mine come true too…… all because you love me…….I have found more love in you than I could ever have dreamed of, and believe me I dreamed biiiiiiig with this imagination when I was younger” she pointed to her temple and pulled a goofy face, chuckling to herself.

Gilbert sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

“When I opened that door and saw you on the bed……..” she whispered, Gilbert closed his eyes in shame. “………I felt like my life was over, as if the burning flame in my heart had been blown out, and there was just a chaotic, twisting stream of wispy smoke threading into the atmosphere and dissipating into nothingness where I used to exist……..but then I looked at you, and I saw the pain in your eyes, I saw the love in your eyes and I knew……..” she tenderly reached out and cupped his cold cheek with her palm and stroked it lovingly with her thumb “I knew you loved me Gil……I know what kind of a man you are, I know your soul…….and that’s where Christine made her biggest mistake……..she doesn’t know you like I do……..I knew you would never do that to me willingly…….you are a good man, the best I have ever known…….she was the biggest fool in all of this because she underestimated what we have……..She has never experienced this kind of love……this connection that we have…….and in a way, I actually pity her……. because she will never have this Gil……” she indicated between them with her finger “…….. because to her love is about possession, its about taking what you want from somebody, she never stopped to think about what you wanted, or what made you happy. She was just driven to take what she thought was rightfully hers regardless of what you wanted, with lies and deceit…….but through all of the lies and schemes, you were my only truth Gil”.

Anne turned her body around to face his, her back now to the sea, the sea breeze blowing her hair around her face like a halo. He couldn’t help but reach out and tuck it behind her ear as she smiled at him.

“Gilbert when I looked into your eyes that night I saw the man who had always been there for me, who was my strength when I was weak and always saw the best in me, and I love you for that, and even though you have made some questionable decisions regarding Christine…….I do not want you to change who you are for one minute. I love you because you always see the best in people……because you always give people the benefit of the doubt…..that’s what makes you an amazing man. You are not bitter and twisted like Christine. Even when I was with Roy, it must have broken your heart every time that you saw us together……..but you still continued to love me and still be my best friend and be there for me. You waited all of those agonising years for me, because you loved me……. because you had faith in us. Even when I treated you so abysmally when I was pregnant with Joy, you forgave me and welcomed me back onto your life……into your home in a heartbeat”.

She pushed his knees down so that he was now sitting on the beach with his legs stretched out on front of him and she slowly straddled his legs and held both of his hands in hers, and looked deeply into his eyes. She missed that cheeky little twinkle that she loved to see in them, it seemed to have been extinguished that terrible night. He looked exhausted, bags under his eyes and a shadow on his chin.

“I know that you would never break that sacred bond that is between us Gil” she brought his left hand up to her lips and she kissed the spot on his finger where there was a little indentation where he had been wearing his wedding ring for all of those years. She smiled softly at him.

“I love you Gilbert Blythe” she whispered to him, looking deeply into his eyes.

She noticed his eyes drop to her lips as she stroked his cheek with her thumb and she could tell he was thinking about kissing her. Still holding his face in her palms, she allowed her thumb to softly trace over his lips, he didn’t flinch or pull away so she slowly leant forward and softly kissed him on the lips for the first time since Christine had kissed him. His lips were warm and tasted slightly salty from the sea air and they immediately responded to her kiss. She slipped her hands into the hair at the base of his neck and gently, taking her time as to not force it, she angled his head to deepen their kiss. His hands came up from the sand and he placed them on her waist as she straddled him as the kissed languidly and lovingly on the beach. She heard his breath hitch and then he sighed as they sank into their kiss. Her hands moved out of his hair and she briefly caressed the skin behind the back of his ears as her hands moved down the column of his neck and onto his shoulders.

He broke the kiss briefly to whisper back hoarsely to her “I love you too” before pulling her back to his lips and kissing her again.

With her hands placed on his shoulders, she gently pushed him backwards onto the sand. The rising sun, bathing his tanned skin in a golden light, his hair a mess streaked with natural and rich highlights in every shade of brown you could imagine. As he went backwards, she went forwards with him, not breaking their kiss as he lay back on the sand. His arms circled around her back and held her close as they continued to kiss.

She pulled away slightly, but only far enough away so that she could pepper his face with kisses and then worked her way down his neck, whispering softly to him with each kiss why she loved him.

She was just whispering that she loved him because he let her shine and had encouraged her to chase her dreams when she heard the familiar sound of his deep breaths falling from his lips. She stopped kissing his collar bone and looked up at him, his head was lolling to one side, his lips were slightly parted and his brow relaxed for the first time in four days as he lay underneath her fast asleep.

She carefully moved off him and lay on her side next to him and cuddled up with her husband, and drifted off into a contented slumber, which is exactly how Mary found them three hours later, both fast asleep, tangled up together on the sand.

Chapter Text

Anne opened the door to DCI Lomax and showed her into the sitting room of the beach side cottage.

“Thank you for coming all of this way, we really didn’t expect you to…..I know Gilbert has been anxious to receive the results of the tests…….he’s in the kitchen at the moment making the tea……I…….ouch……” she muttered as she banged her arm on the door frame “Oh fiddlesticks……” she rambled, turning her hands over themselves anxiously. She hadn’t realised just how nervous she was. She had been so busy trying to sooth Gilberts worries away, she had all but pushed her own anxieties to the back of her mind. It was only in the deepest darkest of moments that she allowed her mind to wander to the dangerous territory of the ‘what if’s’ land.

These concerns had started to creep insidiously into her mind on those cold lonely nights when they were still in Toronto, when Gilbert was still refusing to get into bed with her, it was as she lay staring at the ceiling that she gave in to her own anxieties and started to worry about what would happen to them if his test results came back and indicated that there had been some sort of sexual activity between him and Christine that night……..or what if his bloods came back and showed no hint or trace of a drug in his system………she didn’t know a lot about date rape drugs, but she did know that sometimes they were undetectable after a certain amount of time. She knew that he needed the answer to the questions and she was coming to the realisation that so did she. How would she feel if something had happened against his will that night? What would it do to him……..what would it do to her…….to them?

Patricia Lomax took Anne by the elbow and guided her to sit down on one of the soft flowery couches.

“Please sit down Mrs Blythe……..I can quite clearly see that you are anxious, let’s just get your husband in here and then I can give you the results of the tests and perhaps then we can have a cup of tea”. She said kindly, having noted the worry lines on Anne’s brow and the way her hands were turning over, a distant look in her eyes.

“Gil” Anne called softly and he appeared through the living room door, rubbing his hands nervously up and down the sides of his hips, he extended one hand to the police woman and nodded his head in greeting as he shook her hand.

“Dr Blythe, it’s good to see you again………how have you been?” she asked as he nodded his head again. “Please take a seat…….I have the results of your tests…….” She rummaged about in her bag and pulled out her laptop. She looked up at the couple on the couch opposite her holding hands, Anne’s thumb tracing soft circles on the back of her husband’s hands and smiled at them. “Please relax…….Its good news all around” she tapped around on the computer opening the correct file and then passed it to Gilbert, Knowing he was a doctor and would be able to interpret the results of the tests better than she could probably explain it.

His eyes flitted left and right rapidly as he read the data in front of him, his wife anxiously watching every little micro expression that flicked across his face.

“In short, the tests show that there is no evidence of sexual activity or assault…….” she smiled at them and watched as Anne’s shoulders relaxed and a tear welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheek “…….which concurs with Ms Stuarts testimony………she claims that she undressed you and then kissed you three times whilst you were unconscious……..as you can probably see from the data that traces of lipstick that matched the one that she was wearing that night, have been found around your own mouth………and I’m sure you are relieved to see that it was not found anywhere else on your body, neither were any other bodily fluids or secretions. She claims that she did not touch you in any other way that night” she said gently as Gilbert pushed his glasses into his hair and put his head in his hands, weeping with relief, his elbows resting on the police laptop. Anne wrapped her arms around him and held him as they both nestled their faces into the others neck.

“Also, thank goodness for the quick thinking paramedic, we have found a strong trace of Ketamine in your urine sample that you provided at the scene……..meaning Dr Blythe that you were definitely drugged that night”. She sat smiling on the sofa whilst the loving couple in front of her embraced, knowing that whilst they all wished that this had never happened in the first place, it was good news that the evidence that had been found substantiated their suspicions, and would be enough to prosecute Christine.

Gilbert pulled away and looked at the police Inspector “Ok…….so……..so what happens now?” he uttered.

“Well, we are still in the process of gathering more evidence, we already have CCTV footage from the hotels security system that has caught Christine stopping at a small side table in the bar with the drinks in her hand, and making a motion that looks like she is emptying a sachet, and swirling something around in the glass that she later hands to you……..The guys in the tech division are working on enhancing the images to make it clearer so we can actually see her spiking your drink for when it goes to court………..we then see her taking you in the elevator up to your room……..” she stopped as she saw Gilbert close his eyes and take in an intake of breath, his knuckles turning white as he held tightly onto his wife’s hand. Patricia decided to not overload them with any more details as they both looked as if they had heard enough for now.

“Anyway, the long and short of it is that we are building up a damn good case against Ms Stuart……. she only has the duty solicitor representing her……..her family have cut her off apparently”. She smirked as both Blythe’s snapped their heads around in surprise at the police woman’s words, their mouths hanging open. They had been preparing themselves for one hell of a fight to try to get Christine convicted, they had assumed that they would be up against the best lawyers that money could buy. She chuckled softly at them. “It seems her brother, a………Ronald Stuart…….” she paused as she double checked her information on the computer that that Gilbert had shakily handed back to her was correct “………has agreed to give evidence against her too, as he was present at a lot of your interactions with her”.

Gilbert let out a little gasp of surprise, and clapped his hand over his mouth.

“What about Suzie Baker?........what has happened with her?” Anne asked quietly.

“She is being investigated as an accessory to this crime. She has been questioned and released on police bail…….you will be pleased to know that she has been struck of the childcare register in the whole of Canada and won’t be able to work with children again……And, as part of her bail conditions we have placed a restraining order on her which says that she cannot come within five miles of you or your children”.

Anne and Gilbert both heaved a huge sigh of relief…….the exhaustion of the whole ordeal washing over both of them and they held each other again, their foreheads pressed together and their eyes closed.

Patricia stood up and heaved her laptop bag onto her shoulder, the Blythe’s standing up too, still holding hands she noticed.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for some tea?” Anne asked politely.

“No, thank you……..I think you two have taken in as much as you can for now…….I’m flying back to Toronto in the morning, I thought I would take a few hours to explore this beautiful island whilst I am here……..this is my first time on Prince Edward Island”.

“Oh you must go and see the lighthouse at Four Winds and go for afternoon tea at Captain Jim’s in the harbour, it’s just beautiful at this time of year” Anne gushed as she saw the detective to the door, leaving Gilbert sitting on the couch.

“Thank you Mrs Blythe…….I might just do that…….If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me” she shook Anne’s hand as she opened the door for her “Oh!” she said softly as she put her hand in her pocket “I almost forgot…….I thought you might want this back”. She handed Anne a small evidence bag with a golden wedding ring in it. “We don’t need it anymore…….good day Mrs Blythe……we will be in touch if there are any new developments”.

“Thank you” Anne whispered tearfully, enclosing the ring in her warm palm. “Thank you for everything.”

She walked back into the living room to find Gilbert with his head in his hands trembling.

“It’s ok Gil….” She said wrapping her arms around her husband. The warmth of her arms and her tender kisses on his temple soothing him. “It’s ok……. this is good news” she pulled him tighter to her body and he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face into her shoulder “All the evidence points to nothing physically happening between you whilst you were unconscious…….”

“She kissed me though…….it makes me feel sick……I would never even do that Anne…...I…… “

“Shush……I know, I know that you would never do that……she took advantage of your kindness and your humanity Gilbert…….I know how you are feeling, I felt the same when Jack kissed me……I felt violated, an sullied, I just wanted to wash every trace of him away from my face…….but do you know what the one thing was that made me feel better? ”.

He looked up at her, pain in his hazel eyes and shook his head.

“You……” she cupped his cheeks in her hands and lifted his face up to hers “……. you made me feel better Gil……...your kiss. When you kissed me……the warmth of your kiss and the love that passed between us, wiped all of those feelings away……you were my antidote……. I knew that you trusted me and had faith in me, and that’s exactly how I feel about you now. I trust you Gilbert Blythe, I know that you will never choose to hurt me……..she may have kissed you, but you did not kiss her, and that is what is important here”.

It had been earlier that day that he and Anne had sat on the beach in the early hours of the morning and he had confessed to her how foolish he had been, allowing Christine back into his life again. It had been after that confession that he had fallen asleep in her arms and slept peacefully on the beach for the first time since his ordeal in the hotel. Talking to his wife had unburdened his soul, and had helped him to close his eyes and not be traumatised by the sight of her devastated face at the end of the hotel bed. He knew that he would have to live with that image seared into his soul for the rest of his life. He deserved that, it would serve as a reminder of what a fool he had been and what a lucky man he was that his wife trusted and believed in him. Her forgiveness and soft kisses had soothed him into a peaceful slumber, an oblivion that he had never needed more.

God, he loved her. He didn’t think that it was possible, as he had already adored her with all that he was, but now, knowing that he had at last earnt her trust, had opened up a whole new section of his heart, that now swelled with an unadulterated love for her.

Mary had woken them both up when she had discovered them both asleep on the beach as she was concerned that they would burn under the morning sun that was increasing in strength as noon approached. She had sent them back to the house and then Bash and Mary had taken the kids the 60 mile or so trip back to Avonlea to spend some time with both sets of grandparents who were itching to see them. They knew that the Police were going to be visiting Anne and Gilbert that day so they had taken the difficult decision to take the children out of the house for the day, just in case the results of the tests came back as positive and Anne and Gilbert needed some time alone to process that information. Gilbert had made Bash pledge a solemn oath, boy scout style, that he would not let the children out of his sight for a single solitary second all day. Unbeknownst to Bash, he had also made his father and Matthew make the same promise to him. It was the only way he was prepared to let them leave his side yet.

Anne decided to make the most of being alone with her husband for the first time in days, she gently brought his face up to hers and kissed him lovingly, she wrapped her arms around his waist and slipped her hand up inside of his shirt and stroked her hand across his lower back, caressing his bare skin as she did so, using a featherlight touch. He responded by deepening their kiss, his hands going up to cup her cheeks, her hands moved around to the sides of his body and she lightly stroked them up and down his firm torso, his breath hitched and he sighed, he pulled her closer and she dropped her kisses to his neck, his head fell back with his eyes closed and she felt some of the tension slipping from his body.

She sat back up from kissing his neck and he opened his eyes and looked at her. Her hands moved from under his shirt to his neck line, she gently held onto his collar and pulled him into another kiss, her fingers just slipping under the collar of the button down shirt he was wearing.

She stopped again and looked at him.

“May I?” she asked as her fingers went to undo the top button.

He nodded, and they kissed again as she undid his shirt a button at a time. when she got to the last button, he took hold of her hands to still them before she could slip his open shirt off his shoulders.

“Are you ok?” she asked softly “There is no rush……..we can wait if you want to”.

He stroked her face with his thumb “I want to…..” he confessed quietly “But I want to take a shower first”.

He stood up and still holding her hands he brought her up with him.

A blush swept across his cheeks and there was a shimmer on his eyes. “Perhaps you would like to join me?” had smiled warmly at her.

Anne agreed and allowed him take the lead, not wanting to push him into anything that he may be uncomfortable with. They took their time, with gentle touches and made love slowly and carefully, their hands laced together beside her head, as they floated away together, united as one, how they always should be, and how God or fate always intended them to be……together and in love.

Xx

“Shall we go for one of our old-time rambles in the woods?” She asked as she rolled over in bed and kissed him lovingly.

“Umm” he mumbled against her lips; his eyes still closed as she kissed him. ”I just want to stay here forever with you…….”He pulled her in closer, flush with his own body, every point of their bodies connecting and he wrapped his legs around hers, sighing contentedly. “Can we do that?.......just me you and the kids?......we don’t need anybody else”.

“I could easily be persuaded into that Dr Blythe” she smiled as she pulled away and he opened his eyes and gazed at her. His dark curls a stark contrast to the pure white bedding, his eyes as warm as honey. Her heart beat rapidly as she saw a hint of a sparkle in his eyes, the first time she had seen even a hint of it since that awful night.

“I love you Gilbert Blythe”.

“I love you too Anne Shirley…..”

“No” she smiled at him and placed her finger playfully on his lips. “I am Anne Blythe now…….B.L.Y.T.H.E” she kissed him between each letter “Anne Shirley has gone now”.

Gilbert smiled down at her, how long he had waited to for her to become Mrs Blythe.

“Oh, that’s a shame” he said lightly “I quite liked her”. He sighed wistfully but then smirked, again Anne’s heart beat wildly to see his cheekiness returning.

“Well you see she has changed because somebody…….no names…….has shown her what love truly is……. and now, because of that…… because of his love and faith in her…..she no longer feels afraid, lonely or unloved……he is her everything.”

He smiled radiantly at her, and adjusted his head on the pillow slightly. He gazed at her with love in his eyes “He’s a lucky fellow……..is it anybody I know?” he joked softly.

“Yeah it is actually, you know him really well in fact……he’s tall and very handsome…..” she stroked his face with her forefinger “…….super intelligent of course, he needs to be to keep me on my toes……but more than anything, he is kind, and loving……” she kissed his lips lightly “……..and always sees the best in people and trusts me without question……..he has taught me a lot……he makes me feel safe and loved more than anything in the world” she smiled up at him, her green eyes dancing and full of love for him.

He couldn’t help but pull her in for a deep kiss, his lips then travelled down the white column of her neck, as he moved over her, she sighed in pleasure.

“How is he in bed?” he whispered in her ear as he kissed his way back up to the soft skin behind her ear.

“Fucking incredible” she sighed softly.

“Really?” he raised an eyebrow and looked up at her, before pressing her firmly into the mattress and kissing her hard. She stroked the soft skin behind his ear.

“Fucking hell Carrots” he gasped, kissing her like he was starving for the woman he loved and she smiled against his lips “We are so not going for a walk now……we have other business to attend to…..” and then he returned to kissing her senseless.

She suddenly stopped kissing him and placed her hands either side of his face, holding him firmly.

“I love you Gil……I love you so much……I meant what I said on the beach this morning, you have changed me, I am no longer that afraid little orphan. The love, faith and trust you have in me has made me happier than I have ever been” she looked up at him earnestly, her eyes filled with love for him.

He opened his hazel eyes and gazed back at her “I love you too Anne Blythe……. thank you for trusting and believing in me……. I cannot live without you in my life……” he whispered and placed a delicate kiss on her lips. They paused for another second, their eyes locked in an intense and loving stare, before she pulled his face back down to hers and kissed him passionately.

Chapter Text

A few hours later they were strolling hand in hand through the woods that were behind their rented cottage.

He squeezed her hand as they picked their way through the forest, him leading the way, holding branches back for her so that she wouldn’t catch her long white summer dress on the thorns and brambles. He loved the smell of the forest, it took him right back to both his childhood and all of those rambles he and Anne had taken in the haunted woods when they were teenagers. When they were back home in Avonlea for their university vacations, they would resort to spending time in the woods, fields and forests around Avonlea to escape the gossipy bitches who always made loaded comments like:

‘When can we expect a happy announcement?

‘Isn’t it about time you got a ring on her finger Gilbert Blythe……..women cannot wait forever you know’.

‘Anne Shirley, you are just like Marilla! She waited too long and was too choosey for her own good…….and look what happened to her……she never married’.

Those comments had annoyed Anne at the time, and she had rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth every time a nosey Avonlea resident had tried to start that conversation going. She would immediately shut it down with a ‘We are JUST friends Mrs Andrews/ Mrs Sloane/ Mrs Pye……..’or whoever it was that had accosted them in the street together ‘Nothing will ever happen between Gil and I, we are friends and that is all we will ever be’ and then march off leaving him feeling exposed and embarrassed. But to him, not only did their comments devastate him - by highlighting that everybody else thought that they should be together and that everybody except her expected it - but her firm rebuttal of the notion that they could ever be anything other than friends was absolutely unequivocal. Not to be argued about, debated about or even spoken about……..her rejection of him had crushed him, every single time.

So, they had resorted to escaping to the forest, which became their fortress of solitude. They could hang out all day, giggling and gossiping themselves about the old bags in the village. They could swim in the lake on the hot summer days without anybody sticking their noses in and making comments, Gilbert helping her to get her confidence in the water after learning to swim at the local swimming pool. He had enjoyed the smallest of physical contact with her on those days, holding her hands as he swam backwards on his back and she kicked her legs behind her, her cheeks pink and her long glossy red hair plastered to her head and floating around her, she looked like a fox and a seal’s love child. She had sometimes bobbed around in the water with her arms around his shoulders, his hands on her bare waist as he supported her weight in the water as they chatted and cooled off. How he had resisted kissing her there and then he would never know……. but she had been dating Roy Fucking Gardener then, and that was a whole different story. But that fact hadn’t stopped him from cherishing those memories from the second that they had happened.

The day was a hot and sticky one and as if she was reading his mind, she pulled him over to the small river that flowed through the woods.

“Fancy a dip?” she asked raising a red eyebrow at him and unable to keep a smile of her face, they had swum in this river whilst they were staying at the cottage on their honeymoon. He nodded his head and she slipped her white dress off and twisted her hair up on top of her head to keep it dry and then still wearing her underwear she jumped into the river with a little gasp as the cold water hit her bare skin.

He stood on the bank watching her, a smile on his lips and his hands on his hips.

“Come on in Gil…….the water is lovely”.

“Is that why you screamed when you jumped in…….because It’s ‘lovely’?”

“I did not scream” she chuckled as she swam further away from the bank on her back. “Come on you wuss…….it’s fine once you are in”.

“’That’s what she said’” Gilbert laughed, quoting ‘The Office’ that they had enjoyed watching together. Anne rolled her eyes at him and laughed.

“Just get your clothes off and come in here!”

“Again….’that’s what she said’” he laughed, the sparkle in his eyes returning.

She splashed him and he leapt back laughing.

Anne’s hands went behind her back and she wiggled around a little and then threw her bra onto the river bank.

“How about now?”

He was already shrugging his clothes off, and he jumped in wearing his boxers.

“Jesus…….its frickin freezing” he said in a high pitched voice. He swam over to her and put his arms around her and pressed her chest into his, her legs coming up around his waist, and he kissed her lightly whilst they bobbed around in the water together.

“Can you remember that we used to do this when we walked in the Avonlea woods?”

“I remember everything” he smiled wistfully at her.

“How did I not know how attracted to you I was……..jeez, I was so blind Gil…….I used to love feeling your warm body up against mine in the cold water……you made me feel safe”.

He kissed her “I always wanted to kiss you…….but you were with Roy”.

“I kind of wish you had” she looked dreamy, taken away by her imagination “I wish you had just held me tight in your arms, stroked my cheek with your thumb and kissed me as the sun was going down…….it would have been so romantic…..”

“Are you having a laugh, you would have slapped me one around the face and that would have been the last that I would have seen of you” he laughed.

“Yeah…….I probably would have done that…..” she mused, and then looked at him, his curls wet and the water glistening on his tanned and toned shoulders “……..but maybe…….just maybe, I would have slapped you and then just grabbed you and kissed you harder”, she tightened her legs around his waist and kissed him, her hands in his hair.

“How was I such an idiot?” she asked him as she broke away.

“You are asking the wrong person……I am the idiot that let his psychotic ex-girlfriend and her cousin into his life……into his home……. you can never trust my opinion again”.

Anne just smiled sadly at him and kissed the end of his nose.

“Gil, you need to forgive yourself……. I trust you implicitly……. that’s why I knew something was wrong that night……I knew something outside of your control had happened to you……. you are a good man” she curled her fingers around his ear and softly stroked the skin behind it “Please don’t ever doubt that. Nobody would have ever imagined that she was that twisted, that she would go to such lengths to try and get back with you……. you are a scientist, and you are trying to apply logic to a situation where there is none. There is no logic, because she is crazy……. even Suzie said she was a narcissist”.

Gilbert pulled her into a tight embrace and rested his chin on her shoulder and was lost in thought for a few moments. She was right, he had always had a tendency to over think absolutely everything and tried to apply logic to every situation he ever found himself in.

“How did she get like that?.......how can somebody become so twisted.” He asked quietly. His scientific brain unable to come up with an answer to the question that had been rattling around in his head for days now, and seeking Anne’s more humanistic approach to life “What has happened to her to make her like that?”.

“I don’t know……..but I sometimes think it is how we are loved as children that makes us who we are as adults”. She pulled back and looked at him. “You grew up in an incredibly loving environment, both parents present and adoring you, you never needed to be wary of people, I get that…….I was happy until I was 9……although I can’t really remember much, just the odd snippets that filter into my mind every now and again…….until suddenly, that was all taken away from me……” Gilbert pulled her closer in the cool water , to warm her with his body. “I sometimes wonder if it would have been better if I had never known my parents.” She said sadly “Would it have been easier if I had been orphaned at birth……would never knowing them have been easier to deal with than losing them was? To feel loved and safe……just like you did for the first 9 years of my life, and then to have it all so horridly ripped away from me”.

“They made you who you are Anne, you must know that” he whispered to her, his eyes earnest and she nodded, she would never want to lose what happy memories she did have from her childhood. They were as precious to her as anything was, even if they did cause her pain. He kissed her softly, knowing where her train of thought had taken her. “They are still with you Anne…….in here……” he murmured, and placed his hand over her heart “……. they are here in your heart and within our children”. He kissed her lightly. “In the twinkle in their eyes, in their smiles……in their laughter and their kisses”.

She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his for a few moments. “Going through that though Gil made me build my walls up, to protect and defend myself against being hurt like that again…….I know now that that is why I didn’t allow myself to love you…….I was too damaged for somebody as perfect as you” she half joked, but a tear slid down her cheek. “Nobody loved me for so many years, that was until the day that Matthew picked me up from Bright River train station. I could see by the way his blue eyes twinkled at me that he was a kindred spirit, the kindness radiated out of him Gil…….I felt safe for the first time since that day that my parents died” he pulled back and looked at her green eyes, brimming with happy tears. She pressed her lips into a line, “Perhaps something went wrong in Christine’s childhood that made her the way that she was……...surely people aren’t born that way”.

“You are too kind Anne……Christine was raised with everything she could ever want……. she never went without……...her family provided her with an allowance that was very generous. Even Suzie said she was adored by her family and always got everything that she ever wanted…….” He petered out.

“Until she met you” Anne filled in.

“She made her choices Anne, there are no excuses for the way that she behaved…….for the things that she did…….for hurting you……even if she had a terrible childhood…..People have had awful experiences in their lives but they make the choices not to do terrible things themselves or perpetuate the suffering, but to move on with their lives and be a good person. Just because someone has been abused doesn’t mean that they will become an abuser……You had a bad experience, went through the foster system, and look at you, you are the loveliest, kindest, most wonderful soul that there is alive……”.

“Maybe it was because she was so adored by her family and nobody ever said no to her that she became the way that she is……..Suzie said that she was treated like a china doll……..you were the first person to ever say ‘no’ to her, to stand up to her………perhaps she never had any boundaries put into place.”

He buried his face into her neck and closed his eyes, he just wanted this whole thing with Christine to go away……he never wanted to hear her name again. He knew that would never happen though, not yet anyway, there would be hearings, a court case and goodness knows what else. He suddenly realised he would probably have to face her in court to give evidence against her. He started to shiver. He never wanted to see her again. He didn’t want to give her the pleasure of seeing him again either, he never wanted to feel her eyes on him or his family again. His body trembled all over in the cold water and Anne realised he was getting overwhelmed. She leaned back and kissed his hair.

“Gil…….don’t worry…….she’s going to be locked up. It’s really good news too that her family have disowned her, the fight to get her imprisoned will be much easier without her being lawyered up”

He nodded but his body still shook. She ran her hands over his muscular biceps to try and warm him up. ”She’s out of our lives now Gil”.

He looked at her and smiled sadly. “I love you” he whispered, his teeth chattering.

She remembered all of those times that he had cheered her up when she was feeling lonely or down. Smiling to herself, she cast herself away from him and swam backwards away from him, checking over her shoulder that nobody else was around, she let her hair out loose and dipped under the water, she swam back over to him under the water and popped back up to the surface, her hair floating all around her just in front of him. His eyes fell over her hair and breasts. She started to swim backwards away from him again.

“I wanna be where the people are” she sang and grinned at him.
“I wanna see, wanna see em dancing” she sang and chuckled.
“Walking around on those, what do you call em? Oh, feet
Flippin your fins you don’t get too far
Legs are required for jumping, dancing, strolling along down a what’s the word again? Street?”

She grinned at him and reached her hands out for him, which he took and pulled her towards him, a soft smile on his face and his eyes glittering with love for her. She kissed him tenderly and then swam on her back, pulling him along with her.

“Up where they walk
Up where they run
Up where they stay all day in the sun
Wandering free
Wish I could be part of your world” she carried on singing and smiling at him.

He chuckled and pulled her into his body. “You are my world…...” he whispered; his pupils blown as he gazed at her. “I love you so much Anne…..”. She wrapped her arms and legs around his body and they kissed as they bobbed around in the crystal clear water together. “You are my everything…….you and the children……you are all I have ever wanted……”. He tucked a stray strand of wet glossy hair behind her ear “You are so beautiful……My Ariel…...everything I have dreamed of” he drew her in close again and kissed her passionately.

She slowed their kisses down, “Come on let’s walk……. I have something for you.”

They clambered out of the water together and after drying off in the sun for a short while, they got dressed and carried on walking deeper onto the woods. They held hands as they walked quietly into an area of the forest that they had frequented during their honeymoon. The sunlight dappled through the trees, casting small pools of dancing light on the forest floor, reminding Anne of her childhood imaginings of forest fairies and dryads frolicking in the ancient woodland. Gilbert looked down at her as she walked through the forest, the same dappled sunlight falling on her loose hair, now falling in mermaid style waves after drying in the sunshine, she held her long white skirt up as she picked her way along the familiar path, every now and again pointing out a squirrel or one of her favourite trees.

They walked into a small clearing in the heart of the beech wood, she stopped and sighed and looked up at the ancient green arches above their heads.

“My splendid Cathedral” she sighed, turning to her husband and holding her other hand out to him so that they stood facing one another holding hands.

They looked at each other lovingly and they smiled warmly at each other, she was still as beautiful as she ever was, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, her skin glowed and her hair shone. The older she got the more in awe of her he was, she seemed to get more beautiful with every laugh or smile that crossed her face, he could see a few very faint laughter lines at the corner of her eyes, but the fact that it was usually him that made her laugh and smile only made him love her more. That was all he ever wanted, for her to just turn her beautiful green eyes to him and to look at him with love in them.

She looked back up at him, and her breath hitched, the way he was looking at her made her heart thunder in her chest and did its little familiar flip flop thing. She would never get used to how his eyes affected her when he looked at her, ‘Those eyes’ as Ruby had called them so long ago……. Ruby had been so right back then; he did save that particular look in his eyes only for her. She remembered how she had felt at Di and Fred’s wedding, when she thought he would never look at her again with ‘those eyes’, how she felt she needed their warmth just to breathe in and out each day. As she gazed up into her husband’s eyes now though, they did look tired she noticed, but at least some of the sparkle had returned to them. He had had some sleep today and she felt confident he would be able to get into bed with her tonight.

“Gil, can you remember the night before our wedding. When I told you I wanted to just slip down and meet you at dawn……..and we could go together to the heart of the beech woods and there, under the green arches that would be like a splendid cathedral we could say our vows only to each other?........With the fairies and dryads as our witnesses as the sun rises?.......can you remember?”

He nodded, his eyes as deep and warm as honey “I can remember” he confirmed.

She looked up at the green canopy above them, the leaves dancing in a gentle breeze that slipped through the forest like a blessing from the heavens above. His eyes followed hers as she looked up and the looked back at him.

She held his hands tightly. “Gilbert John Blythe, I love you with all that I am……you have made me who I am today and I know that has only happened because you love me. Your love has made me stronger, braver, and beyond happy. I have accomplished things in my life that I could never have done without you, without your support and encouragement…….I owe you so much Gil…….you are the best thing to ever happen in my life……..you have given me three beautiful, miracle children that I thought I would never be able to bear……..I am so glad that you are their father, like I said to you on the night that I told you that I loved you…….if I had a choice of any man in the whole world to be the father of my children……it would always be you. I have put you through so much in the past……..and your love has been unfailing…..you waited so patiently for me to be ready…….to see my own folly……..and I was so very wrong about you when I met you……You are quite simply the best man that I have ever known…….will ever know in fact…….and you have proved yourself over and over again to me, very often when I quite honestly did not deserve you……..but you carried on believing in me…….in our connection…….in our love…….in us. I need you to know that I trust you with my life Gil……I know you would never hurt me……..that what we started on that day in Mr Philips Geography class eighteen years ago…….this life……..this love……..this path that we are on together……..it is forever……..for life……..for eternity.

As she spoke, his hands were trembling in hers and he smiled and wept at the same time. She went up onto her tiptoes and kissed him softly on his lips, his eyes closed as he committed her words and the tenderness of her kiss to his memory.

She raised his left hand to her lips and kissed the vacant space on his wedding finger as she pulled his wedding ring out of her skirt pocket and the slipped it back onto his finger. He gasped as he did so, she raised his hand again to her lips and kissed his ring back in place.

She looked up at him with her big green eyes, “Nobody will ever come between us Gilbert…….I love you…….I trust you…….and I believe in you. My husband, I love you.” She whispered as he gathered her into his arms and held her tightly, burying his face into her neck as he sobbed. She chuckled softly at him and pulled his face back so she could see him. And wiped the tears away for him.

“Are these happy or sad tears?” she laughed.

“Happy” he squeaked, pulling her back into a tight embrace, kissing her hair as he did so. She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes. They stood there tightly embracing for a few minutes whilst the birds in the trees above them sang a sweet psalm.

Eventually he pulled back and looked at his wife. He fiddled with his ring, feeling happier to have it securely back on his finger. He looked up at her and kissed her lovingly.

“Anne, I love you with every beat of my heart……” he took her hand and placed it over his heart “ you are always on my mind…….. I think about you constantly…….I spend every free minute of every day thinking about you and what you are doing, where you are, who you are with, what has made you laugh and if you are ok…... and I have done that for more years than I want to admit too” he smiled at her “I want to be that someone who helps you to find your dreams and to protect you from your fears…….. I promise that I will always treat you with respect and I will always talk to you about my worries…..no more bottling my emotions up….. or hiding my fears from you” he looked at her his eyes earnest and honest “…….and I will love very part of you…….” His eyes twinkled playfully at her at her “……. especially your flaws……AND yes, I mean your temper……” he smiled and she giggled at him “……but more than anything…… I want to make you happy……like you do me…..you make me so happy Anne…..”. He smiled tenderly and stroked her cheek with his thumb. “…..dancing on air happy”.

They smiled at each other happily.

“Thank you for believing in me Anne”.

“I promise you Gil that I will never run from you again…….I will always stop and talk and listen to you. We are parents now and we owe it not only to ourselves but also to our children to be honest with each other” she held onto his hands tightly and he nodded. “Gil I also have something to tell you…….” He looked up at her anxiously “That night that you first met Christine, at Alo’s, the night that I almost lost Walter?” he nodded confirming that he knew when she was talking about “……. that night, I went out with the girls and Cole……what I didn’t tell you at the time was that Jack turned up unexpectedly………I had no idea that he intended to come.” She shook her head and looked up at him “I had mentioned to him earlier that day that the girls and I were going for a night out that evening and he had recommended that we start at The Attic…….and he just turned up uninvited. I have to admit, it made me feel uncomfortable…….I started to feel like he may have some romantic feelings towards me……but I did nothing to shut it down……..I just pushed it to the back of my mind, thinking I was being ridiculous……..” Gilberts brow furrowed slightly. “………I’m telling you this Gil, because I want everything to be out in the open, and also because I want you to know that I understand how easy it is to get yourself into a situation like you did with Christine……..because in a way I did too…….I want you to understand that I do not think any worse of you because of the decisions you made……..yes you made mistakes, but so did I…….nobody is perfect Gilbert Blythe…….not even you” she smiled at him and brought his hands up to her lips and kissed the back of his knuckles. “…….and certainly not me……..we make mistakes in life and then we learn from them. You have taught me that more than anybody else in life…….I do not expect you to be perfect, I just expect you to be open and honest with me and more than anything……..talk to me”.

He reached towards her and tucked a stray strand of wavy red hair behind her ear.

“I will” he smiled “Will you?”

“I will” she smiled back at him.

“Did we just renew our wedding vows Carrots?” he chuckled softly, his eyes shining with love.

“I think we did” she laughed “You may now kiss the bride……” she whispered, entranced by her husband’s beautiful eyes.

And he did.

Chapter Text

“Twins?” Anne gaped, craning her head off the gurney, straining to see the fuzzy outline on the ultrasound screen.

Her husband grinned her. “Twins” he confirmed. Absolutely beaming at her.

“Really?” she gasped, looking into his twinkling eyes.

“Yep” he popped the ‘p’ sound and leaned over her and kissed her, unable to stop smiling against her lips. He chuckled as he pulled away and took in her face. Which was comically frozen, still with her eye’s brows raised and her mouth slightly open.

“Meet baby Blythe 4 and baby Blythe 5” he laughed enjoying every minute of this. “Look” he pointed to the screen “Two embryonic sacks, two heart beats, twenty little fingers and twenty little toes” he gushed “This here is number 4’s nose and number 5’s little hand” he turned the screen so that she could see it better.

“Twenty little toes?……” she repeated after him “Gilbert……..we are going to have five children?” she whispered, tears in her eyes.

He smiled warmly at her. “Yeah” he said softly and took hold of her hand and squeezed it.

She flopped back down onto the gurney and stared up at the ceiling.

“Five Children” she repeated in shock.

“You always said you could see me with seven children Carrots” he laughed.

“That was before I knew I was going to be the mother of them………five children!” she gulped. She turned her eyes to him “This is your fault you know…….you and your twinkly eyes and your naughty smile……you did this to me!”

He laughed and raised one eyebrow at her “I know……..and I bloody well enjoyed it too” he smirked, remembering the time that they had worked out that this pregnancy had been conceived, in the woods behind their honeymoon cottage after they had exchanged vows three months ago. “They are kind of honeymoon babies” he gave her said charming smile and winked at her, which made her heart flip flop again.

“Stop will you!” she laughed.

“Never” he practically growled at her and leant over her and kissed her deeply just as the sonographer re-entered the room with Anne’s file in her hands causing Dr Blythe to jump away from his wife and blush.

The sonographer printed off some images for the parents to take home with them and updated Anne’s file.

“So how many is that now Dr Blythe?” the sonographer asked as he was helping Anne put her coat on.

“These two…..” he pointed to Anne’s abdomen “……will make five” he chortled proudly.

“Wow!” she laughed, “How old is your eldest?”

“Nearly four” Anne answered, flipping her long red hair out over the top of her coat.

The sonographer baulked “Blimey! Five children under Five?!.......you are brave” she snorted and left the room chuckling to herself.

Anne felt her husband’s hands on her shoulders freeze and she turned to look at him, the colour draining out of his cheeks.

He sat down on the plastic chair beside the bed.

“Shit” he whispered, frozen to the spot. “We are going to have five kids…….all under the age of five”.

Anne laughed at him. “Have you only just realised that?”

He nodded mutely, staring up at her with slightly terrified eyes.

She stepped towards him and ran her hand through his hair. “Don’t worry……..we will be fine Gil”.

“We are going to have to move……..and get a bigger car……a bus!........five children!” he rambled.

She perched on his knee and smiled lovingly at him “Yes…….five little Shirley- Blythe’s……..you never know…..you might get that little red headed daughter you have always dreamed of” she looked at him with her eyes twinkling. “Your own little Carrot”.

She saw his shoulders relax “You are my Carrot……only ever you” he fiddled with the curly ends of her long hair, bringing it to his lips and kissing it.

She put her arms around his shoulders and cuddled into his chest. “What are we going to call them……. we have to think of two names now? Do you have any ideas…….it has been me really that has chosen the children’s names in the past……I think it is your turn Dr Blythe”.

“I have had a few thoughts on that…….” He petered out and looked at her smiling tightly.

“Oh?”

“Yeah……..I don’t know how you feel about it?.......and feel free to veto if you want…….this was before I knew it was twins mind……..but I was thinking maybe …….‘Diana’ if it was a girl…….” Anne’s face lit up at his words “………and…… ‘Joe’ if it was a boy……”.

Anne smiled at him tenderly and she kissed his lips softly. A tear rolled down her cheek “Gil…..” she whispered.

“Anne I owe those two people everything……..without them…….I might not have you…….” He closed his eyes and buried his face in the crook of her neck, she felt his warm tears on her skin.

She held him tightly and closed her own eyes as he sobbed into her neck. She knew it would take a long time for him to come to terms with what happened that night with Christine. Most of the time he was his normal happy self, but every now and again, he became overwhelmed with the stark realisation, that he could have lost everything that night. He never became angry; he just became emotional or very over protective of her and the children. She would still occasionally wake in the middle of the night and find him missing from their bed, and when she had gotten up to go and find him, he was always in the same spot. Sitting on the floor and leaning up against the wall between the children’s two bedrooms, with Rusty curled up on his knee. Even Rusty had given up on his night time excursions around the neighbourhood, and had taken to sleeping at the end of Joy’s top bunk every night. Guarding his people.

Gilbert had insisted that she carry an attack alarm in her bag wherever she went, and had encouraged her to go to a weekly self-defence class with Josie. This had made her laugh, she felt as if she was more than capable of taking care of herself thank you very much. But when one afternoon another customer had tripped and knocked her over in their favourite café, she had seen the fear in her husband’s eyes and noticed how his hands were shaking as he reached down to help her up, she had acquiesced and had agreed to go to the classes with Josie before she found out that she was pregnant again.

She knew that moving on from their ordeal with Christine was going to take a long time. That night that had started off so lovingly and should have been an evening of total celebration for Gilbert, had now turned into one of the worst of their lives. A few weeks ago, the police had returned Gilberts Doctor of the Year award to him. He had thanked the police constable who had returned it to him and then as soon as he had left their apartment, Gilbert had turned and thrown the heavy glass ornament in the trash. Anne had retrieved it and had hidden it at the back of her closet, knowing him well enough to know that he would regret throwing it away in the fullness of time. She was determined to not let Christine Stuart affect their lives in any way again.

The police had been amazing in supporting them through the ordeal, a fact that Anne was appreciative off. She knew that they were lucky in that they had managed to collect enough evidence at the scene and from Gilbert himself to make a good case against Christine and a custodial sentence was now most likely. She was well aware that this not did happen in most cases like his, that often the police were not able to gather enough evidence to prosecute the perpetrator. She felt so passionately about it, she was working on a special article about it that her old editor at Toronto Today was going to publish.

Anne took his hand and laced her fingers through his as they walked through the hospital towards the car park, she happened to be looking at a little girl who was about Joy’s age skipping down the corridor when she felt Gilbert suddenly stop walking and freeze on the spot. She looked up at him and saw that the colour had drained out of his face and was staring at something ahead of him. She followed his eyeline and saw Ron Stuart standing at the end of the corridor.

“Gilbert” she heard Ron say softly.

Gilbert was still frozen to the spot. He knew that Ron was still working at the hospital, waiting for his transfer to come through. When Gilbert had returned to work after his ordeal, he had pretty much kept himself to himself. He had stopped getting his coffee from the staff canteen and had instead brought his own coffee machine into the office. He had also started eating his lunch in his office, sometimes alone, or sometimes Alison would join him which he appreciated very much, being an older lady, she tended to mother him and he never felt as if she was judging him. He hated to see the sympathetic smiles on other people’s faces as he passed them in the hospital corridors, or to feel the whispers of people behind his back. So, by isolating himself as much as possible at work, he had luckily managed to avoid Ron so far.

But now it seemed as if that run of luck had come to an end.

He took a step back, his eyes looking down at the ground and he muttered something to Anne, that even she couldn’t hear, even though she was standing right next to him. She tightened her grip on his hand, squeezing it gently.

“Gil”, she implored as he turned sideways to face her and she took hold of both of his hands. He needed to talk to his old friend. She knew that he missed his company. “You need to talk to him Gilbert” she said softly, looking up at him with her eyes wide and green.

He shook his head softly and took another step away from Ron.

“Please Gil……if you keep hiding yourself away, you are letting Christine win……. it’s time to put some of these demons to rest………it’s not good for your mental health.” She squeezed his hands gently.

Anne looked back to where Ron was standing, keeping his distance and looking upset and anxious. “Gilbert…..please” he said, only just audible from the distance he was standing at.

Gilbert glanced up and made eye contact with him, his eyes guarded and cautious.

“Please……can we talk?........I need you to know that I had no knowledge whatsoever about what they were planning……..I didn’t even know that Suzie was in Toronto…….let alone working for you”. He rambled, desperate to get across to Gilbert that he was innocent in the mess that his family had made. “You have to believe me” he begged, taking a step towards his old pal.

“I don’t believe you” Gilbert said simply, looking away from him.

“I can understand that Gilbert ……I really can………” he petered out as a nosey nurse walked past them in the corridor, gawking at them as she passed.

“My family……. we are not supporting Christine……or Suzie………we know what they did to you. Suzie has told us everything and we simply cannot tolerate the way that they have both behaved towards you……. they have both been effectively exiled from the family……. financially and emotionally. Christine knew that she was on thin ice, she had been warned by her father that if she behaved in any way that could bring shame upon the family that she would be cast out after Andrew told us about her affair with you……”.

Gilbert flinched slightly and looked over his shoulder in case anybody was around to hear Rons words and misunderstood them.

“I wasn’t having an affair!.......I had no idea she was engaged at the time…….and that was years ago” he added just in case there was anybody around.

“look Gilbert…….can we please talk……..somewhere private”.

Another nurse walked by, slowing her pace down as she passed, hoping to gain some titbits of gossip to share on her ward.

Gilbert rolled his eyes and nodded with tight lips “Lets go to my office” he whispered.

A few minutes later, Gilbert found himself unlocking his office and holding the door open for Ron as he and Anne entered the room, Anne taking a seat on the couch.

“Can I bring you some tea Dr Blythe?” Alison asked, her eye’s boring into Ron Stuart - she was equally as distrusting of him as Gilbert was now – her lips in a tight line and an unhappy look on her face.

“Thank you, Alison, that would be lovely” he said and softly closed the door behind his secretary who had been more like a second mother to him over the last couple of months, fussing over him and bringing a healthy lunch in for him every day.

Gilbert sat next to his wife on the couch and then gestured for Ron to sit on the chair in front of his desk, he took hold of his wife’s hand and his eyes dropped to the floor.

They sat awkwardly in silence for a few minutes until Alison came back in with the tray of tea things that she put down on the table in front of Anne and Gilbert. She picked up the plate of her homemade chocolate biscuits and offered one to both Anne and Gilbert, but not to Ron, just putting the plate back down on the tray. The only thing Ron got, was a dirty look from Dr Blythe’s secretary as she left the room. Anne could not help but smile softly to herself. She knew that Alison was ridiculously protective over her boss and filled Anne heart with grateful affection towards the older woman.

Ron cleared his throat as Anne poured the tea out.

“First of all Gilbert……..how are you? I have been worried about you……..I had heard that you barely come out of your office these days.”

Gilbert was silent for several beats longer than what could be considered a ‘comfortable’ silence.

“I’m fine……..no thanks to your family.” Gilbert answered harshly. His lips pressed into a firm line.

Ron coloured up slightly. He had never experienced Gilbert being anything less than friendly towards him.

“I……I understand that” Ron’s stuttered and his eyes drifted over to Anne “And you Anne?.......how is your arm?”

“All healed well……..thanks to Gil’s suturing skills”. She took his hand and laced her fingers through his.

“I hear at least you have some good news…….the pitter patter of tiny feet again” he tried to joke “There really is no stopping you two is there……..”

He petered out when Gilberts hazel eyes flicked up fiercely to meet his. Anger radiating from them.

“No……. there is no stopping us……..even though some have tried their darndest to stop us.”

Ron sat back in his chair and twiddled his thumbs, looking down, his cheeks now bright red.

“I’m getting a transfer to The Royal Victoria in Montreal…….today is my last day here in Toronto……I don’t know how much the police have told you about what’s happening with Christine because of confidentiality rules, but I can tell you, I think we at least owe you that……her bail was refused and she has been committed to a secure mental institution……she is being transferred to the Douglas in Montreal, so she is close enough for our families influence to make sure that she stays locked up as long as she is unwell…….which according to the doctors is going to be a long time. My family are on your side Gilbert, they are horrified at the way that she has behaved, what she did to you both……” he fiddled with his tea cup.

“And Suzie?” Anne asked, pain evident in her eyes. She had trusted Suzie as a close friend and almost as the sister that she never had.

Ron sighed. “She has had her license to work with children revoked, she has already pleaded guilty to the police……..she will no doubt get a community order for the part that she played in all of this…….it is doubtful that she will get a custodial sentence. The police believe……as do I ……..that she had no idea how twisted Christine’s scheme was……she never would have hurt you or your children. But she has complied with the police and has helped their investigation into Christine. She wants to see Christine off the streets too……..she was genuinely devastated that Christine hurt you Anne”.

Anne looked away and pulled her lips over her teeth, trying to control her emotions. The Children sometimes still asked if they were going to see Suzie when they woke up in the morning. They didn’t understand why she had cared for them and had been a part of their lives, and had then so suddenly disappeared out of it. They were too young to understand what had happened, and Anne and Gilbert definitely did not want to tell them about it.

“What has hurt Suzie the most though is that Alex has ended their relationship…….she too was horrified at what Suzie had been a willing accomplice too…….” Ron admitted.

“I’m not fucking surprised” Gilbert spat and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.

“Gilbert, I am so sorry for what they have done to you both……...” he sighed and looked up at the ceiling biting his lip. “I had hoped that in time you could forgive me……...even though I swear I knew nothing about their scheme, and if I had, I would have put a stop to it……” he glanced back down at his old friend and both Anne and Gilbert could see that the situation had also taken its toll on Ron too. “……. but now I guess that that will never happen……. that too much has happened, that my family has inflicted too much pain on you, and you are both well within your rights to not to want anything to do with me or my family again……...” he closed his eyes and shook his head “I will have to come to terms with that…….I guess it was mine and my families fault in some way……we always allowed Christine to get away with murder when she was growing up……..and none of us listened to Suzie when she tried to tell us about some of the terrible things she had done…….Christine was always the star of the family, beautiful and talented and she had us all wound around her finger…….we didn’t want the hear what Suzie was telling us at the time, we didn’t want to acknowledge how twisted she was becoming……..When I look back at it now, I guess on some level I may have decided subconsciously to leave and go to Vancouver when I heard my sister was coming to Redmond to study, because I knew how demanding she would be when she got there……..”.

“So, you decided instead to ‘unleash’ her onto me, did you?” Gilbert said angrily, using Ron's own words against him. “Cheers, thanks for that mate!” he said sarcastically and looked away from Ron. Anne stroked the side of his face to try and calm him down, he was holding onto her hand so tightly it was almost hurting her.

“I’m sorry Gilbert……..but I am just trying to be truthful with you”.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence and Anne sipped her tea noisily, and cleared her throat just to make a noise to distract from the awkward atmosphere that now hung heavily in the room. Gilbert sat looking at the floor, his leg jigging up and down frantically whilst Ron drained his tea and put his cup back onto its saucer, his hand shaking as he did so, making the china clink.

Ron heaved a heavy sigh. “I just wanted to apologise to you Gilbert……. I thought that was the least that I owed you……...I don’t expect your forgiveness……...I don’t deserve that…….” He petered out again and looked at the guy whom he had started to think of as his best friend, he looked a wreck. “I’m sorry for coming today, this has been totally selfish of me……..I wanted to see you before I left to go back to Montreal…….hoping that you could find it within yourself to forgive me and that we could part on good terms. But all I have accomplished today is to distress you even more, which was not my intention……..so I will go…….” He wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs and his voice waivered with emotion as he stood up.

Anne’s green eyes following him as he took a step towards the door.

He turned one last time to look at his old friend and his wife.

“Anne……. Gilbert……. I am so so sorry……...I wish you both all the love and happiness in the world in your future…….I hope that one day I am lucky enough to find that special someone who can give me just half of what you guys have……. And that would make me a very happy man” he sniffed and wiped his nose on the back of his hand, Anne looked at him with tears in her eyes too. “Good bye my old friend……..thanks for all of the fun and laughter you brought into my life…….I will always treasure those memories…….and once again, I am so sorry.” he swallowed thickly and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Anne looked at Gilbert. Tears were streaking down his face as he stared at the floor and he was biting his lips hard, his leg still wagging up and down.

He looked up at his wife, his eyes filled with pain.

She knew what he was thinking without him having to articulate it to her.

She just smiled softly at him as a tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek, and squeezed his hand gently.

“Go” she whispered to him and raised a red eyebrow at him.

He grabbed her face and kissed her quickly, before he leapt up off the couch and raced down the hospital corridor where he launched himself at Ron Stuarts back and hugged his friend hard from behind.

Anne followed him out at a more leisurely pace to see two grown men hugging each other hard in the corridor, both of them laughing and crying at the same time. She turned back to go back into his office and leave them to it and as she did so she caught Alison’s eye. Alison just nodded at her and the two women shared a secret smile, both relieved that the wonderful man known as Dr Blythe it seemed was well on the way to recovering from his ordeal.

Chapter Text

As much as Anne and Gilbert loved their life in Toronto, trips back to Prince Edward Island were always considered some of the best and happiest times that they had together as a family. It was not always easy to arrange - what with Gilberts work commitments and Joy starting at kindergarten now - but they always moved heaven and earth to get back to where they both still called ‘home’ for Christmas.

Avonlea.

Gilbert’s Aunt Mary Maria was currently ensconced in Gilbert’s childhood room at Blythe Farm, leaving not enough room this Christmas for Anne, Gilbert and the children to stay at the family home, but they had fortunately been offered a place to stay by Fred and Diana for the holidays, much to both Anne and Gilberts relief.

“Aunt Mary Maria……Gil always calls her that although she is only his father’s cousin” Anne scowled as she sank down with relief into Diana’s comfortable sofa, one hand on her back the other on her pregnant stomach “She always calls me ‘Annie….uh…….I hate ‘Annie!” Anne shuddered. She loved all of Gilberts family, all except Aunt Mary Maria.

“The first time I was introduced to her, which was on our wedding day, she said……” Anne imitated the old battle axes voice “……‘It’s so strange that Gilbert picked you……” Diana’s jaw dropped open and Anne nodded and carried on “’ He could have had so many nice girls’”

“What a cheeky bitch!” Diana exclaimed horrified.

“Well perhaps now you can see why I don’t like her, Gilbert doesn’t either, although he’s too ‘clannish’ to admit to it”.

Diana laughed “I know what she’s like. When I was about eleven, I was over at Gilberts having tea one afternoon just as Aunt Mary Maria was arriving for one of her stays, and she came in and told me that I quote ‘Could be so beautiful, if only you could lose some weight’!”. It was now Anne’s turn to let her mouth hang open in shock “……. it’s a wonder she didn’t give me an eating disorder!” Diana said as she stuffed a mince pie into her mouth.

Anne reached out and gave her friends hand a reassuring squeeze “You ARE beautiful Diana…….let no old crone ever tell you differently…….she just jealous, she never married or had any children, the only family she has is on Johns side, and she resents anybody who is happy……I think the only way she can feel better about herself is by making those around her feel miserable……You have saved our souls Diana inviting us to stay with you…….Gil was like a Chocolate Labradoodle puppy bounding around with his bouncy curls, big happy eyes and a wet nose, when he knew we were staying with you and he didn’t have to stay at Blythe farm with the dreaded AMM!” Anne giggled, her cheeks glowing.

Diana laughed “Was his tail wagging too?” she cocked a cheeky eyebrow at her best friend.

Anne rolled her eyes and laughed “How I have missed you my darling Diana…….you haven’t changed one single bit”.

Di grinned at her but her smile softened as she looked into her best friends’ eyes.

“How’s he doing Anne?.......I have really haven’t had much chance to speak to him since you guys rented the cottage over the summer…...after you know…….Christine?.”

It had been on that emergency trip back to the island in July that Diana had finally told Anne at last that she was pregnant again. Diana had known for several months before she told Anne about her second pregnancy, this time her and Fred had decided to keep it private until she was over her first trimester. She had then had so many upsetting phone calls from Anne, as that was just as they were going through the Christine debacle, that Diana had put off telling her bosom friend about her happy news. Unable to bring the conversation around to her own joy when it had seemed as if Anne’s life was falling apart……. again! But now Diana found herself happily anticipating a week with her best friends staying with them……and also conveniently, the best obstetrician on the Eastern Seaboard ensconced in her spare room when she was eight and a half months pregnant…..just in case.

Anne sighed and held onto Di’s hand “He’s doing remarkably well…….I know it still haunts him, and he does at least talk to me about it now……..we both made mistakes……..and if it hadn’t have been for your wisdom and faith in him, then these two little monkeys would not be on their way…..” she smiled sadly and rubbed her huge bump “…..and I would probably have left him Di” she closed her eyes and let her head loll back onto the sofa, a single tear streaked down her cheek.

“Wisdom?” Di laughed, “How old do you think I am? You make me sound ancient”.

Anne smiled and opened her eyes. “I mean it Di……. you made me stop and think……you stopped me flying into a rage and wrecking my own marriage……”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Anne…….I had every single faith in you. I think you would have known anyway when you walked into that room that something was desperately wrong……..even without me sticking my ore in…….I know Gilbert Blythe well…….but you know him better than me……..you know that he would never willingly do anything like that…….that’s what Christine got wrong, she completely underestimated you my wonderful friend” she said brightly and slapped her hand on Anne’s knee in a reassuring gesture. “But you think he’s getting over it?”

“Yeah…..he’s been really busy at work, which always helps him……he’s done the foetal surgery several times again, every time he does it I feel so proud of him……he’s making a real difference to children’s lives Di…….I can’t believe a man like that comes home to me every day” she laughed happily, shaking her head softly and her eyes shining with love. “It’s helping him too, he needs his mind to be kept busy and it helps that the police have built up such a good case against Christine that she has changed her plea to ‘guilty’, ‘but with diminished responsibility’…….so we won’t have to go through a court case…….”

“She will be locked up though, right?”

“Yeah…….she tried to kill Gilbert…..going at his neck with the knife…….” Anne soft voice petered out and shivered, leaning forward and putting her face in her hands. Diana stroked soothing circles on her back and murmured soft reassuring words to her friend. Anne collected her thoughts and sat back up and cleared her throat, “Yeah, she’ll be held in a secure psychiatric unit, she will get the help that she needs there.” She smiled bravely up at Diana.

“Is that enough though? Will you feel safe enough with her locked up there?” Anne nodded but bit her bottom lip and looked down at her bump. “I guess……. but what I really want is……” she petered out again, and Diana squeezed her hand, trying to give her the courage to speak her mind.

“What is it, Anne?” she encouraged her gently.

“I don’t want people to think I am running away from our problems, but what I really want is to come home……” she whispered “…….back here, back to the island.”

“Well what’s stopping you?”

“It’s Gils job, he’s tied to TG for another year, but we are going to have to move, there is no getting around it, our apartment is way too small for the five of us that live there now, there is no way we can have the twins there too……just no way” Anne fretted chewing her nails. “so if we are going to do the big move, surely it makes sense to just move back here……it is what we both want…….eventually”.

Diana sighed sympathetically “Have you spoken about it……..perhaps you can sell your apartment you have now and just rent a bigger place for a year in Toronto until you can move back here when his contract is up for renewal”.

“We have spoken briefly about it……. when I bring it up……he ums and ah’s and then changes the subject. I know how busy he is at work; I think he just hasn’t got the head space to think about it yet.”

“But he wants to come back to the island eventually?”

“We both do, I just don’t think he’s ready for that yet, his career is really important to him, he loves his job, and what with everything he has just been through, I don’t want to be the one to make him leave a job he loves”

“People do have babies on PEI you know” Di stroked her baby bump “has he even looked at what facilities The Queen Elizabeth has?”

Anne just shrugged and then grinned at her friend “Perhaps you can drop it into conversation in a couple of weeks time……you know put a good word in about how amazing the hospital is here ……..or even better say how awful it is there, and how much they need a doctor like him there “she chuckled but then fell quite as she thought about the reality of it “ it’s just a small provincial hospital though Di…….he works on cutting edge projects in Toronto, it’s one of the best female health units in the country…….I am worried that any job will not be challenging enough here for him…….you know what he is like……”

“Yes I do…….. and I know that the most important thing in that man’s life is his wife and children……. not his job……. I feel as though it a good time as well…….Joy has only just started kindergarten, so it would be a good time to move before she starts big school next year. She will have time to make new friends here before she makes that big transition……and of course Freddy Jr is always asking for her……..I think he’s got a bit of a crush”. The girls just smiled at each other warmly “Just talk to him Anne” Diana said kindly.

Anne smiled “I should get that tattooed across my forehead” she laughed and Diana rolled her eyes and nodded her head.

“You both bloody well should” Diana laughed rolling her eyes.

xx

John gave his wife a sympathetic smile as he slipped out of the house at dawn, knowing what his wife was going to have to endure whilst he was working in the barn. Elsie had tried to persuade him to take time off work to help whilst his relation was recuperating at the farm. Elsie had quite rightly pointed out that the farm was ‘half buried under snow’, but according to John, they had suddenly had a ‘major malfunction’ of farm machinery the day after Aunt Mary Maria had arrived which required his full and immediate attention, even though said farm machinery was not required again until the following fall.

He was kidding no one, and only felt slightly guilty as he put his feet up in the barn to play CandyCrush on his phone whilst he sipped on his hot coffee.

His cousin Aunt Mary Maria had just undergone a hysterectomy at Charlottetown General, and much to her consternation, her nephew Gilbert had been ‘unavailable’ to perform this operation on his ‘Aunt’. She didn’t seem to understand that he couldn’t simply rock up to a different hospital half way across the country and start performing surgery on elderly aunts.

She was only actually in her mid-50’s, but behaved as if she was in her mid-80’s. Her recovery had been a long and inconvenient one as she only had cousin John to look after her whilst she recuperated after the surgery. Well, the truth was she only had Elsie Blythe to look after her, as John always seemed to be extra busy on the farm whenever she came to visit. The two weeks she had initially come for had already stretched to four.

So, it was with his feet up on a hay bale and his nose buried in his phone that Gilbert found his father just as the weak morning sun shone through the barn windows on the day that he arrived back in Avonlea for Christmas.

“Working hard then I see?” Gilbert joked as his father jumped slightly, fearing he had been discovered by his wife.

John put his hand on his chest and looked relieved to see that it was only his son that had discovered him.

“Jeez, you gave me a fright…….I thought it was your mother”.

Gilbert just cocked an eyebrow at him and smiled warmly at his father as they both strode towards each other and met in the middle of the barn and embraced tightly.

“God it’s good to see you……” his father laughed, still holding his son tightly “……I still miss you you know…….it still feels weird with you gone……. ever since the day you left to go to Redmond…….I still expect to come in and find you all curled up in bed…….or your 80’s music blaring out” He laughed. “Even to this day I can’t hear a power ballad on the radio without thinking about you rocking out with your hairbrush in front of the mirror”.

Gilbert laughed, his cheek pressed into his father’s greying hair as they clapped each other on the back before stepping out of the embrace.

“How’s the patient doing?” Gilbert asked, rolling his eyes. He had not entered the house yet or greeted his mother, wanting to avoid Aunt Mary Maria for as long as possible.

John just rolled his eyes in response and shook his head “A complete nightmare as usual……. She’s going to be even more demanding of your time than ever before, I hope you realise that” he laughed.

“Oh Gawd” Gilbert sighed “I do have three young children and a wife pregnant with twins…...I’m going to be too busy to be at her beck and call all the time……. thank goodness for Di and Fred".

John laughed “Don’t think that staying over there will save you, that will not stop her trying to pester you…….she has been asking for your new number persistently so that she can call you……your mother and I have been putting off giving it to her for as long as we can……”.

Both Gilbert and Anne had changed their phone numbers after the Christine situation, it just made them both feel a little more removed from danger.

John paused for a beat and took his son in as he stood in the barn before him in an expensively cut suit looking the consummate professional that he now was. He still looked as handsome as ever, but there were a few more lines around his son’s eyes and a just one or two greying hairs in his now neatly styled mop of chocolate curls. He had come a long way from the scruffy little farm boy who spent his summer days climbing trees and fishing in every pond that he could get away with without being caught by a grumpy landowner. And even when he did get caught, he always managed to get away with it. The combination of his cute ringlets, too long and falling into his hazel eyes, his long eyelash’s and his shorty dungaree’s he always used to wear and his knees dirty, always seemed to get him off the hook with every misdemeanour he undertook.

But now his little boy was 33 years old and a married man and father of 3, nearly 5 children, and one of the best doctors in a hundred-mile radius, he couldn’t be prouder of him.

But he would never get over the shock of seeing how skeletal he had looked when he had been Medevac'd back from India. John had felt like he had been physically wounded himself as he had stood by his son’s hospital bed and looked at what his handsome, intelligent and charming son had been reduced to. The horror of that day and facing every parent’s worst fear – thinking that the natural order of things had gone terribly wrong and his son would die before he did - would never leave him.

“Gilbert…….I’m sorry I was never there for you as much as I should have been when you were little…….for working all the hours that God sent. Sometimes I could go all week and only see you when you were asleep” he turned to his son and put his hand on his shoulder “ I left a lot of the important work in this family all up to your mother…….she dealt with every scraped knee and runny nose……..”

“It’s ok Dad” Gilbert interrupted, “I know why you worked so hard, that’s the way farm life is……..you did it to provide for us…….so I could go to college…….become a doctor. Mum may have made my birthday cakes and stitched up the holes in my socks……..but I wouldn’t be who I am today of you had not worked all of those hours on the farm, and built my college fund up so well…….Parenting is a joint effort! I am well aware of that now” he laughed.

“Your Mother did a good job with you Gilbert, she sat and read with you every night at bed time, taught you your ABC’s and your 123’s before you even went to Kindergarten…….”

“As well as carried me around everywhere until I was literally too chubby and heavy for her to pick up any more…… I know I was a bit of a Mummies boy” he chuckled and blushed “But that doesn’t mean that I did not cherish every moment that I spent with you Dad”.

John looked away for a moment and tears formed in his eyes, and then looked back at his son. “When your mother and I came to the hospital in Toronto, and you were so, so ill, I couldn’t stop thinking of all of things that I should have said to you, and all of the things that we should have done together Gilbert……..you always wanted to fish when you were little……..you always had a piece of string in your pocket wherever we went and you would tie it onto any old stick you found lying around to try and make a fishing rod……..and you would stick your little tongue out in concentration as you were doing it” his father laughed softly, miming tying a string onto something, with his tongue sticking out “…….but I was too busy all the time…….. as I sat next to your hospital bed, I just kept thinking……’I wish I could take him fishing one last time’. I prayed to have those moments back……to feel your little hand in mine again, for you to rush to the front door when I got back in from work and give me a little kiss…….”

Gilbert reached out and hugged his father again “I’m sorry Dad, I have put you and mum through it lately, haven’t I? What with the typhoid and then Christine……. Bash has never been this much bother, has he?” he joked and his father shook his head.

“Did I ever tell you what your mother said when she found out about what Christine had done?” John laughed at the memory and Gilbert shook his head “She marched upstairs and started flinging random things into a suitcase and said ‘Mess with the cub and you take the lioness on!’” he imitated his wife’s voice to perfection “She would have eaten Christine alive!”

They both laughed. But what John didn’t tell his son was that whilst he had gently talked his wife down from rushing to the airport, his own heart was twisting, and a fire stoked by pure anger was burning in his guts like an inferno.

His boy had been hurt.

It didn’t matter how old he was, or how many children he may have. Gilbert was his child and that instinctual protectiveness over him would never wane. Every ounce of pain his child felt, he felt tenfold.

“Your mother certainly has a fiery streak within her, especially when it comes to you……. oh, that sounds familiar……...I wonder where you got your passion for fiery women from?.......” he joked.

Gilbert laughed “I am rather partial to a lioness”.

“Speaking of fiery women……..where are Anne and the kids?” he winked at Gilbert and he smiled at his father.

“Getting settled at the Wrights……they will be over later with Di, and Fred’s heading over too after his teachers meeting finishes”.

“Good, your mothers prepared a feast big enough to feed a small army……..but I think she’s only done that so that she has an excuse to be in the kitchen and not with Aunt Mary Maria…..You know your mother bakes when she’s stressed” he chuckled “Have you set the appointment up with the solicitor?” John asked, changing tact.

“Yeah, it’s this afternoon just after my meeting at the hospital” Gilbert said bashfully.

“We’ll need to head out sooner rather than later though, heavy snow is coming tonight” he said, his wise old farmers eyes looking to the snow laden clouds. John Blythe had worked the fields and orchards of Blythe farm all of his life……he didn’t need to see a weather forecast…… he could almost feel any oncoming weather fronts in his bones.

“You do think I am doing the right thing yeah?........Should I have told her before I put the final legal paperwork through? What if it’s not what she wants and I am making too big a life decision without her?.......We promised each other that we would talk more and not keep secrets after you know……Christine” he fretted, his mind on what he needed to get done that afternoon and not the weather.

“If I’m honest…….I’m just glad of having an excuse to get out of the house for a few more hours this afternoon so I can drive you to Charlottetown, and not listen to the gospel according to Aunt Mary Maria” he joked, but then turned serious when he saw the worried look on his son’s face. “Look……don’t think of it as a secret, think of it as a surprise……” his father reassured him with a pat on the back, and then laughed “Things will never be easy with you two, and you do seem to make your life harder for yourself ……. but you know that girl like nobody else does Gilbert……..I think she is going to love it……..you old romantic you” he affectionately nudged his shoulder against his son’s “You get that from me you know……I’m an old romantic at heart…….I taught you well” he smirked, just like his son does.

Gilbert arched a questioning eyebrow at his father as they both turned and started to slowly and rather reluctantly make their way back to the farm house.

“Is that why you are hiding out in the barn whilst Mum takes care of Aunt Mary Maria? All in the name of romance?” he quirked and his father blushed.

“Yes, and I’ll show her just how much I appreciate her efforts later on…….”

Gilbert clapped his hands over his ears “Lalalala……. too much information” he laughed as he ran across the snowy yard towards the farm house.

Chapter Text

“Annie……...can you pass me my comforter……...it’s getting chilly in here. That Elsie Blythe never keeps this place warm enough……. it’s a wonder I haven’t caught my death yet……. “ Aunt Mary Maria complained, pointing at the blanket that was closer to her than it was to Anne.“…….Perhaps that’s why it’s always so cold here…….she wants to finish me off so I’ll be out of her hair once and for all!........And she’s probably got her eye on my condominium as well I expect…….and my collection of antique teaspoons” her chin wobbled as she wallowed in self-pity.

“Of course, Auntie” Anne said pleasantly, counting to ten for the hundredth time that afternoon, trying to keep her temper in check.

“It’s a wirus that makes you sick Auntie…….not getting cold” Joy piped up innocently from the floor where she was playing with her dollies.

Aunt Mary Maria pursed her lips and glared at Joy “I can see that she has inherited your cheek Annie…….I would never have dared to talk to my elders with such insolence!”

Anne felt her cheeks heat up and she wasn’t sure if it was because she was embarrassed by Joy’s words or angry at Aunt Mary Maria.

“Well its true…..” Joy added “That’s what my Daddy says and he’s a doctor” she said proudly, not looking up, still engrossed in her toys. Her curly hair was tied up into two super cute little bunches at the side of her head with Christmas ribbons which were slightly wonky as Daddy had done her hair for her that morning.

Aunt Mary Maria’s face turned puce and she raised an eyebrow at Anne as if Joy’s last comment had proven her previous statement to be correct.

“It may be true Joy, but it’s not polite to correct an adult” Anne reasoned with her daughter.

“Why?”

“Because we have to listen to other people’s opinions and respect them, even if they are not necessarily opinions that we believe in ourselves…….so say sorry to Auntie”

“Sorry Auntie” Joy piped up again, looking up at her with hazel puppy dog eyes, just as bewitching as her fathers, and one shiny brown ringlet falling across her forehead. Anne smiled to herself, her father had taught her well.

“Apology accepted I suppose…….I should at least be glad that she hasn’t hit me or inherited your violent temper Annie……..” she chided “……but I guess that’s not your fault, that’s what happens when you are an orphan” she added at the end, thinking her words were kind ones.

Anne’s cheeks got even redder and she counted down from a hundred backwards this time, she wasn’t going to give the old crone the satisfaction of being right, and where was Gilbert when she needed him to shut the old bag up?

“Joy, let’s go and check on Nanna, and see if she needs any help with dinner” Anne said scooping her daughter up and leaving the room before she exploded. She left the room shutting the door behind her. She could hear Aunt Mary Maria complaining about the door being closed and nobody would be able to hear her call if she needed them, but Anne ignored her and left it closed anyway and stalked into the kitchen to see if Gilbert was back yet.

“Well done…….you lasted nearly twenty minutes this time” Elsie smiled as she kneaded (or more like beat the crap out of) some dough on the kitchen counter.

Anne looked around the kitchen. Every inch of counter top space was filled with some form of delicious looking baked good or another.

“Do we really need any more bread, Elsie?” Anne asked smiling.

“Yep…... As long as that witch is in there…...” she pointed to the sitting room “……. then I am in here, taking my anger out of some cinnamon rolls!”

“Can I help please Nanna?” Joy asked jumping out of Anne’s arms and pulling a chair over to the work top to stand on to help her out.

“Do you know when Gil is due back? I thought he would have been back by now?” Anne asked, bored and missing her husband, she idly drew her finger through a dusting of flour on the kitchen worktop.

“He’s still in Charlottetown…….I hope they get back before the snow hits” Elsie replied distractedly, wiping some flour off her cheek with the back of her hand and trying to ignore the voice she could just about hear coming from behind the living room door.

“K” Anne answered leaning casually against the worktop next to Joy. She pulled the kitchen curtain aside to see that the snow had not started falling yet.

“Shall we put some Christmas music on Joy” she asked her granddaughter and turned her playlist on via Siri, pressing the + button on the smart speaker to turn the volume up even louder to make sure she could not hear Aunt Mary Maria calling for her.

Anne rubbed her forehead and pinched the bridge of her nose, she suddenly felt very claustrophobic, the loud music and having to repress her feelings and listening to Aunt Mary Maria’s obnoxious tirade all afternoon was starting to give her a banging headache.

“I think I’ll take a stroll down the lane before dinner if that’s ok Elsie, I need some fresh air. Are you ok to watch the kids for me for a while please?”

Elsie smiled knowingly and looked up at her daughter in law, understanding just how she felt “Of course my dear……but don’t be too long. The weather oracle otherwise known as John Blythe says that a storm is coming in a few hours…….so make sure you wear your hat and a warm coat and don’t wander too far, I know what you are like when you are in one of your dreams”.

Anne smiled and kissed Elsie’s cheek. “Thanks Mum” she quirked and went to put her coat and boots on, already starting to feel better at the thought of getting out of the house and being able to wander the lanes of Avonlea as she used to when she was a girl.

It was midafternoon as Anne made her way slowly down the old familiar Lovers Lane, the sun starting to dip down towards the horizon, leaving pink streaks in its wake as it made its journey across the sky. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in of the sweet island air, her boots crunching on the frozen path beneath her. Here she knew she could walk for hours without bumping into another person, without hearing horns blaring or sirens howling at all hours of the day and night like she would in Toronto. Here in this winter wonderland, she could greet all of her favourite trees and visit all of her and Diana secret little meeting places where they had shared so many of their girlhood trysts together. How she longed to be back living on the Island. With each week that her pregnancy progressed she felt the instinctual pull to return to the first place that had ever felt like home to her, strengthen significantly.

Di was about to have her second baby. Joy, Jem and Walter loved their visits back here and cried when they left. She loved spending time with Elsie, John, Bash Mary and Delly and there was no getting around the fact that Matthew and Marilla were not getting any younger. Every time she said farewell to them, she never knew if it would be the last time that she would see them. She felt as more time passed, the time she spent with her elderly parents was becoming more and more precious by the day.

There was also the cold hard fact that since their experience with Suzie, both her and Gilbert felt very reluctant to leave the children with anybody that they did not know. She knew that she would never trust a nanny again. They had let Suzie into their home and she had betrayed them in the worst possible way. Childcare was starting to become a problem. Josie had been helping them out in Toronto as she had just given birth to her daughter and so was on maternity leave, but they knew they would not be able to rely on her long term. They needed the support of their family, of their community.

A gust of wind picked up and blew Anne's hair across her face, she pulled her hat down and lifted her scarf up over her nose to protect her face from the freezing chill in the air as she suddenly realised where her feet had automatically taken her. She smiled to herself as she took in the large white farm house before her, its green gables just visible through the layer of snow that had fallen overnight. She was so used to wandering the familiar path between Blythe Farm and Green Gables, that her feet had automatically carried her back to her old home as if on autopilot. She stood at the old white picket fence, her hand on the gatepost and looked at her east gable room above the porch, the same little lace curtains hanging at the window, as clean and white as they day that she had arrived here.

She knew that Matthew and Marilla were out, they were visiting friends at White Sands for the evening. Another stronger gust of wind blew up from behind her, almost blowing her into the gate at which she stood. She felt in her pocket for her keys, relieved to find them in there. She still carried her key to Green Gables around with her wherever she went and so decided to let herself in and have a cup of tea and one of Marilla’s home bakes that were inevitably to be found in the kitchen somewhere - ‘just in case somebody unexpected turned up’ as Marilla always said - to warm herself up before she made the return journey back to Blythe Farm where Gilbert would be back soon, she hoped.

He had looked so handsome as he had left just before lunchtime with his father and Bash. He had been wearing a suit which had surprised her. Must be an important meeting about some farm business or another she thought to herself as she rummaged through Marilla’s pantry whilst the kettle boiled. She was in her second trimester again, and true to form, was unable to keep her hands of her husband. She just wanted him all the time, especially when he was looking all handsome in a suit. She was worse than she had ever been before in fact, she was feeling twice as randy because she was having twins she assumed. A saucy smile spread across her face as she remembered what they had done that very morning together, how she had nearly bitten his shoulder in an effort to keep quiet and not wake the children up. God this was frustrating, she could barely even hear his name being mentioned without having lascivious thoughts about him, which was rather unsettling when it was Aunt Mary Maria talking about him.

She found a tin of biscuits and sat down on the comfortable chintzy sofa and sipped on her tea, she popped her feet upon the sofa and stared out of the window absent mindedly, still thinking about Dr Gilbert Blythe and what she was going to do to him later. As she gorged herself on more biscuits in Marilla’s absence than she would normally be allowed to scoff in one sitting and drained her tea, she didn’t realise how tired she had become. Her eyes drooped and her head lolled backwards onto the comfortable and familiar cushions and she drifted off into a peaceful slumber, one hand still clutching a cookie and the other resting on her baby bump.

xx

It was several hours later that she woke up, confused in the darkness that now surrounded her as to where she was. It was the total darkness that reminded her that she was at Green Gables, there were no outside street lamps nearby to cast their orangey glow through the curtains, just utter pitch blackness. She had gotten used to the levels of darkness whilst she was growing up at Green Gables, but now after living in a light polluted city for so long, she had forgotten how dark it got in the countryside. As she blinked her eyes open and stretched her body out, she pulled her coat that she was still wearing around her body, she suddenly realised how absolutely freezing it was, her feet and the tip of her nose were ice cold.

“Shit……” she mumbled “Why is it so frickin' cold in here?” she clumsily rolled off the sofa and sat up.

She looked over to check the time on the old VCR player that Matthew and Marilla still had on their entertainment centre, but she could not see the illuminated digital display. She looked around the rest of the room and it was in complete darkness. Shivering she stood up and walked into the kitchen she noticed that the electrical displays on the microwave and stove had gone out too. She flicked the light switch back and forth, but the light did not come on which confirmed her suspicions.

“Bugger” she mumbled making her way to the thermostat realising that the power had gone out.

Living in such a remote spot, it was not that unusual to have the odd power outage every now and again. But in the depths of a Canadian winter, it was never a good thing. She flipped the cover of the thermostat up to try and turn the heating up, just to realise the heating was electronically controlled, so wasn’t working either.

“Perfect……..absolutely bloody perfect” she mumbled again, fishing around in her coat pocket for her phone. She could call Gil or John and they could come over and pick her up. Her hands were now ice cold as she rummaged around first her coat pockets and then her trouser pockets with a sinking realisation that she had left her phone at Blythe Farm.

“Oh, for fucks sake” she said out loud this time. She had no idea what the time was, she knew it must be quite late, well past dinner time as it was so dark. She walked back into the kitchen to check the grandmother clock. “Thank God for good old analogue……..8.30!........shit!” She must have been asleep for about four hours. “Fuck…..Fuck……Fuck” Gilbert must be worried sick about her.

She rushed over to the landline phone that sat on the hallway dresser and picked up the receiver thanking the heavens that Matthew and Marilla had insisted on keeping it. She put the receiver to her ear only to hear no dial tone. She frantically tapped the button on the base unit, trying to get a connection, but it did not work. The phone was dead too. She hopelessly replaced the handset and went to put her boots on, she would just have to try and get back as quickly as possible. Perhaps if she walked the usual path she would meet Gilbert on Barry’s Hill, half way between their homes like she used to when they were younger. She smiled fondly to herself remembering how she had at last forgiven him for calling her Carrots on that very spot.

“Oh Fiddlesticks” she grumbled as she laced her boots up awkwardly, her pregnant stomach getting in the way. She wrapped her scarf around her face and went to open the door to the farm house. She pulled it with the usual amount of force that it took to open the door, but it would not budge. She knew it sometimes stuck or froze shut in the cold weather, so she pulled it harder and harder, her anxiety levels rising as she began to guess why she could not open the door and they had suffered a power cut.

She let go of the door and went to look out of the window.

“Shit!”

The house was completely surrounded in deep deep snow.

As she peered out of the frosty window she could see and hear that the wind was howling around the house, the snow still blizzarding down at a 45-degree angle. The weather was far too bad to contemplate going out in even at the best of times, but she knew there was no way she could attempt it, she was 5 months pregnant with twins!

“Oh, for fucks sake!” she cried, her mouth going dry and her heart racing as she realised, she was going to be stranded in the freezing cold farm house all night. She paced back and forth in the kitchen rubbing the tops of her arms to warm them up and popped her woolly hat back on.

“Ooo the fire” she remembered and went back into the living room. There were no logs left set in the fire, Matthew would normally do that task in the early evening, he obviously had not gotten around to doing it before he had left the house that morning. She went over to where the logs were kept in a basket next to the fire, but it was empty.

She sighed and sat back down on the sofa and put her head in her hands. God knows how long this weather could go on for, she could be stranded out here for days. She stood up and paced again. Gilbert must be frantic about her, that was as long as he hadn’t gotten stranded in Charlottetown with Bash and John she thought anxiously. She hadn’t even told Elsie where she was headed and it’s not like she could come and rescue her with three young children and Aunt Mary Maria to look after.

She made her way forlornly upstairs to her east gable room; she couldn’t even make a nice hot cup of tea to take to bed with her. She rummaged around in her old drawers and found some old unicorn sparkly slipper socks at the back of her draw and hurriedly pulled them over her freezing feet. She grabbed her old comforter off the bed and made her way back downstairs. After lighting a few of the candles that were dotted around the house and collecting them all together in the sitting room, she settled herself down on the sofa with her duvet wrapped around her and finished the tin of biscuits that were still by the side if the sofa.

She harumphed……. There was nothing else to do apart from sit and wait……..she was not good at being bored. Her shoulders slumped and she twirled the ends of her hair in her fingers. She folded her arms across her chest, then unfolded them and crossed her legs back and forth. She closed her eyes and let her head tilt back and rest on the back of the sofa and imagined what it must feel like to freeze to death, her imagination running wild. Thoughts of Gilbert or Matthew rushing into the house only to find her frozen to death wrapped up in her girl hood comforter. What a tragical end it would be, how they would all weep for her at her funeral, even Aunt Mary Maria would be distraught having driven the poor pregnant young woman out of the house with her incessant whining. Anne was just imagining how Gilbert would stand distraught in the pulpit reading her eulogy, tearfully pledging that he would never take up with another woman as long as he lived, when she saw what looked like a torch light shine through the sitting room window. She quickly jumped up and rushed to the window.

She smiled when she saw a familiar snow-covered figure battling their way to the house.

“GIL!” she shouted as she banged on the window frantically.

She watched as he fought his way up the path through the blizzard.

“GIL”.

He looked up at her as he clambered up the porch steps, tripping as he went, unable to see where they were as they were buried under the deep snow.

He rushed up to the window to see his wife’s pale and anxious face looking at him from the other side of the glass.

“ANNE……. Thank Christ, Are you ok?......I have been so worried……..can you let me in?” he yelled, his gloved hand on the glass as if he wanted to touch her face.

“Yeah I’m fine ……..the door is stuck……I’m snowed in!” she yelled, the wind still howling so strongly he had to hold his hat on.

He turned in the direction of the door and she could hear him rattling it.

Xx

Outside. Gilbert looked around frantically for something to help dig the snow out of the way of the door so that he could get in to her.

“Thank you, Marilla Cuthbert……. you absolute saint you” he uttered as he saw a snow covered broom, leaning up against the side of the house. He grabbed the broom and started sweeping the snow away from the door in strong swift movements, clearing the snow that had drifted up towards the front door.

Inside Anne could hear him banging away at the door with something. She felt instantly safe again, knowing that her husband was on the other side of the door and he would soon be inside with her. He tried the door a few times before he eventually tore the door open and dashed inside, closing it quickly behind him. He was completely covered on snow, his scarf covering most of his face, just his anxious hazel eyes and a few snowy curls visible from underneath his hat.

They enveloped each other in a fierce embrace.

“Shit Carrots, you scared the actual shit out of me” he peppered her face with kisses and she cried with relief. “Are you ok……..the babies?”

“Yes, yes……we are fine……all three of us…….thank God you came…….I was scared……..how did you know where I was?”

He pulled away from her and raised a snowy eyebrow “This was the first place I looked…….I knew your feet would carry you here” he smiled warmly at her as he started to brush the snow off his shoulders and stamped his boots on the door mat to get rid of the excess snow on them.

She grabbed hold of his cold cheeks and pulled his face towards hers so that she could kiss him firmly on his lips.

“My hero, you have rescued me again” she said kissing him again, more passionately this time. “You look like Kristoff from Frozen when he arrives at Oaken Sauna” she laughed, taking in his coat frozen with snow “I’m almost cross with you for coming out on this weather Gilbert” she frowned, realising how cold and wet he was as he stood shivering by the front door. She helped him off with his sodden coat “The power is out; I can’t even warm you up” she ran her hands up and down his arms, in an attempt to warm him up. “You will need to get out of these wet things”.

“Are you trying to undress me Carrots?” he joked, his teeth chattering together. “Why haven’t you started a fire?” he said peering into the living room.

“There’s no wood in the house”.

“Have you looked in back cupboard in the boot room?.........Matthew keeps some wood in there in the winter, for nights like this”.

She looked at him astonished “How do you know that and I don’t”

He looked up at her from unlacing his boots, his hazel eyes sparkling, “Because I fill it up for him every fall” he smiled at her and she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“You have always looked after Matthew for me for years in your own little quiet ways haven’t you?....... Are there any more ways that I can fall in love with you Dr Blythe?”

He stood back up and shrugged nonchalantly “I don’t know…….” he whispered in her ear, his warm breath sending goose bumps down the cold skin of her neck “……..but it will be my life’s work trying to discover a few more.”

He pulled her close and stroked her cheek with his thumb and then cupped her face in his hands and kissed her longingly.

“Come on you go sit down and I’ll get that fire lit” he said as he pulled away from her, leaving her to chase after his lips.

Gilbert made a quick phone call to Blythe Farm to reassure everyone that they were safe and staying the night at Green Gables and ten minutes later the sitting room was lit by the warm glow of a fire roaring in the fireplace.

“You need to get out of those wet things Gil” Anne said again as he crouched in front of the fire, prodding it with a poker.

He looked over his shoulder at her “You really are trying to get me naked, aren’t you?” he laughed.

She pretend pouted and gave him her big green eyes, fluttering her lashes at him. “Maybe……..a girls gotta try” she said as he stripped his T shirt and trousers off.

She came to join him on the hearth rug and snuggled up to him and wrapping her comforter around both of their shoulders. He tightened his arm around her and kissed the top of her head as they both gazed into the fire. He looked down at his wife and she had a happy contented smile on her face.

“What?” he asked lightly, slightly amused by the look on her face. “What are you smiling at?”

She chuckled softly and bit her lower lip with her teeth and then laughed out loud as a memory floated into her mind.

He pulled away from her so that he could see her face better, her cheeks were flushed and he wasn’t sure if it was from the heat of the fire or embarrassment.

“I’ve just remembered something” she said softly and looked up at him, God her eyes were beautiful in the firelight.

“Oh yeah?” he asked, unable to stop himself from smiling too.

“I can remember the first winter I was at Green Gables, we had a really bad storm just like this one and the power went out……..can you remember?”

“I can remember it happening but I think I was in the UK that year”.

“Well I can remember it…….I can remember sitting here watching the fire, lost in how romantic it was, with the snow falling down outside and the room lit with candles and the fire burning……Matthew and Marilla had gone to bed and I dragged the cushions off the sofa and made a make shift bed on the floor, with my comforter, Marilla’s best table cloth and a sheet from my bed, I kind of made myself a little camp for the night.”

“Sounds cosy” he said turning around so that he could face her “I wish I could have been there” and he gave her a cheeky wink.

She grinned at him, and a blush did sweep across her face this time. “You kind of were……..You were here with me……In my imagination”.

“What?” he laughed, his cheeks dimpling charmingly as he gazed at her.

She nodded and laughed “I had completely wiped that memory from my head…….I imagined you here with me…….in front of the fire”.

“What were we doing?” he arched a playful eyebrow at her, his lips pressed together trying to suppress a smile.

She grinned and coquettishly shook her head as if she was not prepared to share her fantasy with him.

“We were arguing, weren’t we?” he laughed sadly. ”…..Because that’s when you hated me” he looked away from her back into the fire and shrugged his shoulders somewhat dejectedly.

She put her finger on the end of his chin and gently tuned his face back to face her.

“Yes, we were arguing……you were going on, and on, and on……..” she rolled her eyes at him “……but then I decide to shut you up” she said softly sighing, she looked up at him, her eyes twinkling.

A smile stretched across his face “And how did you do that Carrots?” he gently tugged at one of her braids and threaded the ends of it through his fingers.

“I kissed your fucking face off” she whispered, the end of her nose only an inch away from his and looked him straight in the eyes, her gaze unwavering.

His eyebrows shot up in astonishment “You fantasised about kissing me………when you were 14………when you hated me?”

She nodded mutely, but just arched a beautiful red eyebrow at him.

“Fucking hell Carrots…….” He grabbed her and kissed her passionately, pushing her backwards onto the floor, he hovered over her as best he could, so as to not squish her baby bump.

She laughed against his lips and raked her hands through his curls. “I used to fantasize about doing this too……. like all the time……. every time you fell asleep, I used to fiddle with your hair, I couldn’t keep my hands off it……...you have the most beautiful hair”.

“What else did you used to fantasise about then……..in front of the fire on a snowy night?........were we just sleeping? Or were we doing stuff?” his lips trailed down the soft silky column of her neck, concentrating on the spot where her neck curved into her shoulder and she sighed in pleasure and closed her eyes.

“Hm?” he prompted her, still kissing her neck.

“I’m not sure I want to share that with you” she teased, knowing he was desperate to hear what her thoughts had been back then.

“Ok then Miss Shirley………have it your way, if you won’t share with me then I won’t share with you” he abruptly sat up and stopped kissing her.

“Oi……..I was enjoying that……..you may continue” she lifted her chin up to expose more of her neck and ran her two forefingers down from her jaw bone to her clavicle to entice him, and then tried to pull him back towards her by pulling his arm.

“Nah ah ah” he teased “Tell me what you thought about that night” he hovered back over her and gave her a frustratingly light kiss just behind her ear.

She looked up at him alluringly and he moisten his lips with his tongue. She sighed gazing at his lips and then back up to his eyes “We did stuff…….”

“Really?……what did we do?”

She smiled at him. “Kiss me and I’ll tell you some more”.

He leant down and kissed her hard, leaving her breathless, but then pulled sharply away. Still leaning over her, he raised his eyebrow at her signalling that he wanted her to continue.

“We had both been to one of Miss Stacey’s AP English Lit classes, and as I was walking back home a big storm hit. When I got back here to Green Gables you were huddled in the porch, taking shelter from the snow on your way home from class…….I had to invite you in because the storm was getting worse and you would have died out there in the cold……..and although I hated you, I didn’t want your death on my hands” she said softly and coquettishly, fluttering her eyelashes at him that made his heart beat wildly.

“Carry on” he said in a gravelly voice, lost in her eyes.

“No…….you need to earn the rest of my story”.

He leant down and teased her ear lobe with his teeth, she closed her eyes and pulled him closer, as his sucked on the sensitive spot behind her ear, and she sighed deeply.

“Carry on” he ordered, as he unzipped her coat that she was still wearing and slipped his hand inside of it.

“Matthew and Marilla were out, we had the place all to ourselves. I’d never been alone with a boy before. We sat by the fire as the heating had gone out and we argued. You were telling me that Persuasion was the weakest of Jane Austen’s works……...your view was that a woman falls of a wall and that’s about all that happens” she trailed her fingers down his abs. “You were SO wrong……...I yelled at you the chemistry and sexual tension between Anne and Wentworth was palpable right from the beginning of the novel……...she ‘pierced his soul’ for heaven’s sake!” she insisted as if they were still having the argument. “……. I told you that you were cretinous ignoramus! You just refused to admit that I was right!” She shook her head in disappointment at her imagined version of her teenage husband and he smirked at her “……and then……….you said I was overly romanticising it and in the real world Wentworth would never take Anne back, because she had broken his heart, and then you called me Carrots ………so I just grabbed you, and kissed you, to get you to shut the fuck up”.

“Was it was a quick peck on the lips……..or did you French me!” he smirked, his eyes dancing with mirth and his pupils blown wide.

“What do you think?” she asked him lightly, completely in control of him.

“I think you stuck your tongue down my fucking throat” he rasped, gazing at her and she couldn’t help but giggle, until he grabbed her face and kissed her with everything that he had. “You drive me fucking mad……do you know that? ever since I first met you, I have wanted you desperately…..and I still do…….what did I say after you kissed me?”.

“You told me that I was the best kisser you had ever had……..” she stuck her nose in the air.

“You were right…….and then what did we do?”.

”And then……we……. you know…….”

“What?”

“You know” she laughed blushing, trying to turn away from him to hide her embarrassment.

“No…….I don’t know………why don’t you tell me” he gazed down at her as she lay on her back beneath him, her hair splayed out all around her.

“You know……..we……..’did it’!”

“Did what?........say it” he teased.

“Giiiiilbert!” she laughed.

“Say it”.

“We…… you know ‘went all the way’ as Ruby used to call it” she laughed, enjoying the warmth of his body pressed up against hers.

“No……. that’s not what we call it though is it Carrots…...Say it……” he laughed, pinning her in place on Marilla Cuthberts hearth rug. “I was just an innocent 15 year old boy……..what did you do to me in your imagination?” he raised one eyebrow at her and smirked at her and then winked, just how he had on the day that she had met him in Mr Phillip’s geography class. It’s a good job she was already lying down as her knees went weak, her heart hammered and her mouth went dry. Jesus Christ he was good at that!

“Innocent……you were a long way from innocent Mister!” she scoffed.

“Don't try to distract me......say it………what did we do Carrots?” he insisted again, refusing to be side tracked by her.

She sobered her giggles and looked him right in the eye, determined to get this little game back under her control.

She paused; and gazed up at him, his breath was laboured, and hot on her neck as they stared at each other, that familiar electricity crackling and sparking between them.

She raised her nose in the air and looked up at him through hooded eyes, she bit her lower lip seductively.

“You fucked me!” she whispered at last.

He groaned and nearly melted in her arms and couldn’t help but succumb to his goddess, his kiss the most desperate she had ever received from him. “Fucking hell Carrots” was all he could groan, before she rolled him over and jumped off him, leaving him laying on his back on the floor, wide eyed and chasing after her lips.

“Where the hell are you going” he whispered, nonsensically as there was nobody else to hear them in a one-mile radius.

“I’m going to get Marilla’s table cloth, and you can get the cushions from the sofa……..and we, Gilbert Blythe, Mr Popular, Captain of the football team and Class President are making a fort……..and you are gonna make my teenage dreams come true” she demanded playfully and ran her toe still clad in her fluffy unicorn sparkle slipper socks down his bare chest “And this time we don’t have to be quiet……”

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe we just did that” Gilbert giggled almost hysterically “I’m lying naked in Marilla Cuthbert's sitting room………and I’ve just shagged her daughter on her best tablecloth……..I’ll never be able to sit at the dinner table again after this” a tear of laughter rolled down his cheek as he hooted away. Anne smiled happily as she lay next to him in his arms, her head on his chest and their legs all tangled up together in their makeshift bed . “I can honestly say, I have never appreciated your wonderful imagination more……..wow Carrots, I never knew you were such a pervy girlie”.

She swatted him lightly on the chest.

“It’s all your fault……...you are a bad man…….” She joked “……. who has led me astray, giving me naughty thoughts with your curly hair and cheeky grin……I never had thoughts like that about boys before I met you” she idly drew patterns lightly over his chest.

“Really?........did I bring on your ‘sexual awakening’?” he hooted again, wiping tears of laughter from his face.

Anne looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded “Yeah, me and the rest of the female student body……even some of the guys so I heard” she smiled up at him and kissed his chest.

He turned over in her arms so he was facing her, the firelight reflecting in his eyes, emphasising the beautiful array of greens, golds and ambers in them. He tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “I was so in love with you, you know……..even then…….If I had known then that you had even the slightest little bit of attraction towards me……..I would have been the happiest boy in Canada…..like I am right about now” he kissed the end of her nose.

“Yeah, and Joy would be graduating from high school round about now” she laughed and he nodded in agreement. “I love you so much Gil……..I can’t believe I repressed my feelings for you for so long…….I had completely forgotten about that night all those years ago, about all of those thoughts and feelings I had for you…….when I looked back now, I can see that they terrified me……..somebody like you would never want to be with somebody like me, to kiss me or hold me……… or be my boyfriend……”

“Excuse me but I beg to differ…….I was desperate to be your boyfriend” he interrupted her and stroked her baby bump affectionately “And herein we have the proof” he smiled proudly.

She couldn’t help but grin happily at him as he lowered his lips and kissed her bump tenderly, muttering sweet messages to his unborn children within her.

“We were meant to be Carrots…….It may have taken us years to get together……..we waited and it hasn’t been easy for either of us…….but we have been truly blessed……..five Children Anne……..five?”.

he marvelled and kissed her lips lovingly and she sighed happily.

She ran her own hand over her pregnant abdomen “It’s going to be hard Gil……especially seven of us in our apartment……..we are going to have to find somewhere else to live……..I know you haven’t wanted to talk about it, and every time I have tried to bring the conversation around to moving or looking for a new place, you have changed the subject” she bit her lower lip nervously with her top teeth. He loved it when she did that and he couldn’t help but kiss her again.

“You noticed that then?” he smirked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Yep…..” she nodded “…….but we need to talk about it Gil, these little ones are going to be here soon, and if I’m honest, I’m starting to get a bit stressed about it”.

He was silent for a few moments and she could see a million thoughts passing through his intelligent eyes.

“What?” she asked a smile breaking out on her face as his eyes twinkled at her and couldn’t help but give her a brilliant smile.

“What…..what is it?” she asked again, laughing “Tell me!.......tell me or I WILL tickle you Gilbert Blythe” he fingers crept across his ribs and she tickled him lightly and he flinched slightly under her gentle touch, she increased the ferocity of her tickles until he was squirming around on the floor and giggling again.

“Stop!.......wait……Stop. Ok I’ll tell you!” he screeched as she went in for the kill and tickled his ‘drop spot’ as she called it, the place where his neck curved into his shoulder. He pressed his cheek to his shoulder, trapping her hand in between them.

“Oh, you are such a LIGHTWEIGHT, you would seriously be no good under torture” she laughed.

“OK…….”

He paused for dramatic effect and took a deep breath.

“I was going to wait until Christmas day to tell you this but…….I can’t think of a better or more romantic time to tell you than now ……..”

He paused again for dramatic effect and Anne rolled her eyes “Just tell me Gilbert!” she poked him in his ribs playfully.

“Ok……..promise you won’t be mad” he said seriously, suddenly looking really nervous.

“What IS it Gil?……..you are actually scaring me now”.

“Promise me”.

“How can I promise you, if you won’t tell me what it is”.

“Promise me”.

“No!”

“Please?”

“No”.

“Pretty please with sugar in top….I’ll be your best friend…..”

“Gilbert Blythe! What is it?.......and I’m not your best friend anymore…….I’m your loooooovvvver” she purred sexily, but couldn’t help but smile “You don’t fuck your ‘best friend’ like that” she raised her eyebrow at him and pointed to their messy makeshift bed.

He smirked at her “Well actually I did” he laughed and she batted his arm again.

“Gilbert! Just tell me for heaven’s sake!”

He pressed his lips together and then bit his lip. “I’ve bought us a new house!” he suddenly blurted out, unable to keep his secret in for another second longer.

Anne froze, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.

Gilbert froze too, his face going pale and wondering what the hell he had done.

“What?” she whispered, aghast.

“I’ve bought us a new house” he said quietly, his eyes searching her face, looking for clues as to how she was feeling about the news.

“Gilbert I…….” she sat up and ran her hands through her hair.

“You’ll love it Anne I know you will……..it has six bedrooms and an attic conversion……it’s got a beautiful garden with a little brook in it……open fire places…….three acres of land……” he rambled on and then petered out when he saw his wife’s eyes turn to meet his.

“What?......Where…..where is it Gilbert?”

He took her hand and held it in his “Please don’t be mad………if you really hate it, we can just rent it out as a an investment opportunity…..I used my savings to buy it…….for us ……for you……I wanted to surprise you……”

“Where Gilbert? Where is it?” she asked again quietly.

He swallowed thickly, his eyes half hopeful, half fearful, “It’s here Anne……on the Island……..Glen St Mary…..” he was just about to say ‘just a stroll away from their honeymoon cottage’ but he couldn’t because his wife had launched herself at him and was kissing him madly. Tears pouring down her face her hands holding his face tightly.

“Here? Really? On the Island? We can move back home?”

“Yes, yes, yes and…….yes” he said between urgent kisses, his body relaxing as his wife seemed happy with his decision so far and he pulled away from her so he could see her face. She was laughing and crying at the same time. Gilbert looked at her with love in his eyes, her hair was a mess, her face tear streaked and she snorted and wiped her snotty nose on the back of her hand.

He quirked his right eyebrow at her and gazed into her eyes, “Let’s go home Anne” he whispered, his voice husky and only just audible above the crackle of the fire.

“This is the single kindest, generous, most loving thing anyone has ever done for me……” she squealed with excitement and launched herself at him again, hugging him hard “……. this makes up for every single unfulfilled dream I ever contemplated…….tell me again all about it ……. please?” she implored, her eyes bright and shining, a quivering hand covering her mouth, her eyes green and glimmering with happy tears.

He grinned at her, caught up in her excitement and started waving his arms around, gesticulating as he spoke. “It has this wonderful garret……..I know you love big garrets, it has skylights and all…….And best of all……the master bedroom has a view across the harbour at Four Winds……..we can lie in bed in the morning and watch the little fishing boats coming and going………and…..and it has a………wait for it……..you are going to love this ……..it has its own name!” He grinned at her proudly.

Her eyes widened and she slapped her hand down on his forearm, her mouth gapping open. “I always dreamt of living in a house with its very own name……. how romantic, our very own house with its very own name……” she whispered awestruck, lost in one of her childhood day dreams. a faraway look in her eyes “…..what is it……..what is it called Gil?……..” she gulped and pressed her lips together and briefly closed her eyes as she still clutched onto his for arm “please don’t let it be something awful like ……. ‘Six Mile Bottom’ or ‘Shitterton’ or ‘Thong Cottage’……. please let it be something romantic” she gasped.

He chuckled and put his hand on top of hers “It’s called ‘Ingleside’” he said softly and she took a big gasp of air and burst into tears, hugging him again as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the side of her head.

“I love it Gil………I love it already…….I love you……..oh my God, I can’t believe it” she laughed and cried at the same time, as she pulled away from him and held both of his hands, the fire crackling softly behind her as she gazed into her husband’s eyes. “Just when I thought I couldn’t love you anymore than I already do, you go and do it again Gilbert Blythe……you go and find another way of making me fall in love with you all over again……..it sounds positively perfect” she cupped his face with both of her hands and gazed at him lovingly.

“It is Carrots, its over two hundred years old……..think of all the lives that have lived there already, all of the stories hidden in every room, every beam, and every creak of the floorboards……..there’s a lovely little morning room downstairs that I thought you might like as your office, it overlooks the garden and the Lombardy tree’s and the sun filters in through the window in the morning, I thought it would be a good place for you to do your writing……..and there a fireplace in it too. and you should see the fire place in the sitting room it’s an Inglenook…….hence the name…….You can have all that land to grow your flowers in…….we can get a dog……….can I choose its name?……..and you can pick out the paint and I’ll paint the walls any colour that you want……..” He rambled on, beyond excited at her reaction to his news.

“But what about your job Gil……..” she suddenly interrupted him “I thought you were still under contract for another 18 months? How on earth are we going to live here if you still have to honour your contract in Toronto.” she asked pulling away from him, her hands falling from his face. temporarily horrified that he would be living and working in Toronto still whilst she and the children lived on the Island.

He simply smiled at her “I’ve got a new one…….at the hospital……..here in Charlottetown”.

Anne gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth.

“That what I was doing there today, I went for an interview and they offered me the job there and then”.

She still sat there with her hand clasped over her mouth, her eyes wide and her loose hair glowing, backlit by the fire.

“I spoke to Tony and he gave me the go ahead a few months ago after I returned to work……” he swallowed thickly “……..after what happened, I knew I wanted to get away from Toronto…….then when we found out about the twins……” he reached out and stoked her belly “…… I knew we needed to move” he shrugged “I spoke to Tony and he completely understood, We came to an agreement that every month I will spend three days back at Toronto General carrying out the foetal surgery…….I don’t want to let my patients or the TG team down……..but you and the kids are my priority Anne ”. He rubbed his hands up and down his arms as a small draft chilled his bare skin. He reached forwards towards the pile of logs at the side of the fire and tossed another one on and then looked back at Anne. “I know how much you want to be back here…….and I do too. We need help with the kids and that’s something that we both agree on, that it will have to be somebody that we already know and trust after what happened with Suzie”. He paused and looked back at his wife “Are you cross with me……..should I have discussed it with you?……..I should have, shouldn’t I?……..we don’t have to live there if you hate it when you see it……I know we promised we wouldn’t keep secrets and talk about everything……but…..”

“Gil……don’t” she placed her hand on top of his in a comforting gesture “I know I am going to love it…..I’m just a little overwhelmed” an eager smile stretched across her face and she squealed softly in excitement “…..do you have any photos on your phone…….I can’t wait to see it”.

“That, you will have to wait for……...until Christmas morning at least…….” She groaned and rolled her eyes and he laughed at her “………” I’ve made you a Look Book and I wrapped it all up……...but we have an appointment to view it before we go back to Toronto” he grinned, “you are going to love it Anne, I’m sure you are” he said, squeezing her hand.

She looked up at him with her big green eyes and teased her bottom lip with her teeth. He gulped and looked down at her lips.

“Please Gil…….show me…….I really want to see it”.

He chuckled and shook his head playfully “No, you are just going to have to wait until Christmas morning”.

“But I have been such a good girl all year” she sighed sexily and inched her way closer to him, her eyes now dropping down to his lips.

“Nah ah Carrots……..you are going to have to wait” he stubbornly insisted.

She just smiled up at him and slipped her hand under the blanket and grazed her hand up his still naked thigh.

“How about now?” she licked her lips as her hand went higher up his leg under the blanket.

“No……..and that’s final……..Jeez you are worse than the kids” he laughed “You are just going to have to wait”.

“But……”

“No…….not gonna happen, you can do that all you want…….” his eyes glanced down to where her hand was under the blanket “But these lips are sealed………” he mimed zipping his mouth shut with his hand.

She pulled her hand out from underneath the blanket and pretend pouted, trying to give him her version of his puppy dog eyes in a last ditch attempt to get him to acquiesce to her demands. He just grinned at her. A smile so dazzling and filled with complete and utter love for her, that she melted into a puddle before him and she couldn’t stop a smile from stretching across her own face as her heart swelled with love for him. She sat up and pushed him backwards so that she was now leaning over him as he lay flat on his back on the floor. “You Gilbert Blythe……. are an……. infuriating…… effing…… tease…….” she punctuated each word with a kiss to his lips “……. but my God……. I love you” and she slipped her hand back under the blanket……

Xx

Several hours later, Marilla Cuthbert let herself back into her home after she and Matthew had battled their way in his truck back to Green Gables through the pristine snow. The first thing she had noticed was a thin trail of smoke twisting its way out of the chimney and into the clear blue Canadian sky as she and Matthew had pulled up along the driveway. Last night’s storm had passed over leaving a calm, peaceful day, and a deep and even layer of snow that shimmered like diamonds in the morning sunshine.

As she shoved the door open, she realised that somebody had cleared most of the snow away already from outside of the door, her broom laying casually discarded by the swing seat. She knew Anne had a key and it was probably only her that was in the house, there were certainly very few burglaries or squatters in Avonlea for her to worry about.

She walked through the kitchen unwinding her scarf from around her neck and noticed the digital display on the stove and microwave were flashing indicating that the power had been cut, but was now back on. She placed her bag and scarf on the table and walked into the living room where she found her daughter and her husband fast asleep on the floor in front of the now dying fire, Anne held tightly by her husband’s arms in a loving embrace. His hair dark and curly hair against the white pillows that she recognised as from Anne’s bed. His back was turned towards Marilla and she looked at the strong muscles in his back, the comforter around his hips and her daughter’s slim white arms around his waist. Her mind flashed back nearly forty years to seeing his father just like that, but then it had been her bed that he was in, and her arms around his waist. Marilla once again felt that sharp pang of regret that she had now come to accept as part of herself, of who she was, but her heart still radiated with joy and happiness for her daughter, that Anne had at last found the love that she so deserved, in the arms of such a worthy man. She grinned to herself and chuckled softly as they began to stir, Matthews heavy footsteps outside on the porch waking them up.

She folded her arms across her chest and feigned a cross expression on her features. Unable to resist an opportunity to mess with them.

“Huh hum?” she cleared her throat, as Gilbert rolled over and sleepily blinked his eyes open. The bright white light reflecting from the snow outside and shining through the open curtains that hung at the windows was temporarily dazzling him. He suddenly became aware of his mother-in-law standing in the doorway and he startled “Shit!......” he exclaimed, pulling the comforter further up his body to cover himself up “Miss Cuthbert!” he said surprised, like he was six years old again and she had caught him fishing in her pond. He immediately withdrew his arm from around Anne and blushed, holding the comforter under his chin and sitting up.

“Marilla!” Anne gasped in surprise having just woken up to see her mother standing with her arms crossed and looking as mad as when she had lost her amethyst brooch “Marilla …….I…….we got snowed in……the power went out…….” she started to babble, sitting up next to Gilbert. They looked like a couple of naughty teens who had just been caught making out on the sofa.

Marilla fought to keep a straight face as she looked at their horrified and embarrassed faces. She suddenly frowned as she looked at what they were lying on, was that her table cloth? Anne continued to babble excuses as to why they were naked in the living room until eventually she petered out with a whispered “………I’m so sorry Marilla……..I won’t do it again…….that is the one good thing about me……..I never make the same mistake twice……..so sorry” and an apologetic grin frozen in her face.

Marilla just raised an eyebrow at the couple and said dryly “It looks like you owe me a new table cloth for Christmas Dr Blythe”.

Anne and Gilbert looked at each other mortified, their blushes doubling as they remembered what they had done on said table cloth last night as Marilla turned and closed the door behind her, a huge grin on her face and barking out a sharp laugh as she remembered their faces, unable to hide her mirth any longer.

Chapter Text

Christmas day came to Blythe farm with another covering of snow. Elsie Blythe was starting to look positively frazzled hosting Christmas dinner for the Blythe’s, Cuthbert’s and Lacroix’s. The only good thing about having a house full of over excited children charging around the place was that Aunt Mary Maria had taken to her room with a headache. But that was only after chastising the children about the ‘unbearable racket’ they were making when Anne was singing ‘When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney’ with them. Even the ever-patient Gilbert had been close to grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and throwing her into the barn when she had said; ‘Surely they don’t still believe in Santa Claus do they?’ when Joy had excitedly jumped up from opening one of her gifts and shouted ‘Thank you Santa’ up the chimney breast so Santa Claus could hear her.

Anne had shot an alarmed glance at Gilbert and all of the other adults in the room had frozen as still as statues. Fortunately, the children were all too absorbed in their gifts to listen to Auntie.

“We want the children to possess their heritage of fairy land for as long as possible Auntie” he said through gritted teeth and in as flowery as possible a language, so that the children wouldn’t catch on to what he was saying.

When it came to lunch time though as the family sat around the table and Marilla said grace there suddenly came a hammering on the door. Anne and Gilbert looked at each other surprised, who on earth could that be calling on Christmas day. Gilbert frowned and got up to answer the door. Leaving Aunt Mary Maria to chastise John for carving the turkey incorrectly, and perhaps it was time for him to let his son take over as he ‘is a surgeon after all’, which even made Gilbert wince as he strolled towards the front door.

He pulled the door open to see an anxious looking Fred standing on the porch, his car parked at a skew-whiff angle on the drive and heavy snow falling from the sky.

“Shit, thank God you are here……. Di’s in labour…….” He rambled and pointed to the snow covered car, where Diana was wincing in pain in the front seat, Gilbert was already hopping around trying to get his shoes on quickly “………the baby’s coming Gilbert……...the road was blocked……..the only thing I could think of was to bring her here………”

“Let’s bring her in Freddy……. its ok, calm down……...I’ve got this ok”.

“Ok” Fred said, tears of relief in his eyes as Anne appeared at the door, an anxious look on her face.

“What’s going on?”

“Get the hot water and the towels Carrots……you are about to witness a home birth” Gilbert Joked (everybody always thought the needed hot water and towels when a baby was born at home) and kissed her surprised looking face on the cheek.

“Shut the door Annie…….its freezing, you holding that door open is causing a draught and making my back play up young lady” Aunt Mary Maria hollered from the dining room.

Anne rolled her eyes and ignored her as Gilbert and Fred were helping Diana up the path.

Elsie appeared at the door, wiping her hands on her apron “Good heavens………Is she having her baby?”

“Looks like it……oh my……. Diana!” Anne embraced her as the two men either side of Diana brought her into the house.

“I feel like I need to push Gilbert……. the baby is coming……. Aaaaarrrggh!” Diana panted and then screamed.

“Mum, can we use your room….” Gilbert asked from under Diana’s arm.

“Yes of course……. I’ll get you some hot water and towels”.

Gilbert looked straight at Anne and chuckled.

“Thanks Mum that would be great……..but any kind of water proof sheet would be great, unless you want your mattress ruining.

“No probs, I’ve got one from when Joy was potty training……..I’ll just go get it” and Elsie rushed off.

Diana started panting as Fred and Gilbert helped her up the stairs.

“Shut that damn door!” Aunt Mary Maria fumed “I’m trying to recover from surgery here!........Elsie get back here so we can start our dinner!” she shrieked.

Anne mumbled expletives under her breath and shut the front door, following Diana up the stairs.

Elsie rushed into the room with the plastic sheet and Gilbert helped Diana onto the bed and immediately went to pull her lower clothing off.

“Shit” Anne whimpered and sat down as she had a wave of light headedness sweep over her, watching her husband rip her best friends clothing off, a determined look on his face as he then dashed into the bathroom to wash his hands and pulled a pair of plastic gloves out of his back pocket and donned them.

“Is there anything else I can do?” Elsie asked, passing a damp flannel to Fred to mop his wife’s brow with.

“No, it’s probably best if you leave us to it and take Anne too, she’s looking a little pale”. Gilbert said calmly and nodded over at his wife who had sat down on the window seat and was taking deep breaths. ”Just save me some dinner please” he smiled up at his mother and then went on to focus on Diana again. How he could be so calm was beyond Elsie. She left the room and closed the door behind her, returning to the dinner table.

“Well, we might as well get on with lunch” she stated as she helped Anne into her chair at the table and started to plate a meal up for her son to have later, noticing that Aunt Mary Maria had already half eaten her own meal.

“I hope she is not going to keep the awful racket up all afternoon, she’s bringing one of my heads on!” Aunt Mary Maria moaned with a mouth full of food, making the rest of the family at the table cringe in disgust. “I don’t know why women insist on making such a fuss about giving birth, women have been doing it for millennia……..Animals manage to do it without making such a noise…….I’m sure it’s just an attention seeking thing……the silly girl…….she would be as well to lose some weight too………”

Unable to hear another single word of Aunt Mary Maria’s tirade, Anne thumped her fist down on the table, making all of the tableware rattle with the ferocity with which her hand hit the table.

“Right, that is enough!” she shouted at Aunt Mary Maria “How dare you, you mean spiteful old woman” her cheeks were pink and her eyes were glowing green “How dare you speak about my friend like that……..she is the kindest most caring and gentle souls and she is beautiful both inside and out!……..How dare you say she needs to lose weight, you shallow narcissistic bitch……..she is nine months pregnant for heaven’s sake……..you are just a sour old gossip who has never loved anybody apart from herself.......you never have anything nice to say about people. Elsie and John have been nothing but kind and welcoming to you and all you do is bitch about them behind their backs……..you quote the bible all the time to people, but it even says in the bible that it is a sin to gossip, so perhaps you need to take heed of some of your own nasty advice and just shut the hell up!” she finished.

Upstairs Diana screamed again, but downstairs, there was silence at the dinner table and Anne looked around at all of the shocked faces, her eyes fell to Marilla’s face as the tight line that her lips had been pressed into during Anne’s outburst suddenly curled upwards in the left hand corner of her mouth and she let out a laugh that she could no longer repress for a second longer, and soon she was laughing her head off, the rest of the diners around the table also started to laugh raucously as Anne sat there turning red, embarrassed by her own actions, her hand covering her mouth. As the laughter started to fade away, people looked at Aunt Mary Marias face, that was white and angry.

“My feelings have been hurt……” she declared, her mouth pressed into a thin line and her chin pressed into her chest “Elsie, I cannot eat another bite at this table…….with these people……I must take myself off to my room for I have no appetite anymore. John! You must help me to my room!” She started to get up as John rolled his eyes and went to help his cousin up the stairs.

“Have a nice nap Auntie Narcissisticky Bitch” Joy pleasantly called after her, still tucking into her turkey dinner not realising what she had said was rude.

“Joy!” everybody around the table said shocked, all except Matthew who chuckled, his blue eyes twinkling as he looked from Anne to Joy “That’s my Girls” he said proudly and smiled at them “I’ve been waiting all day for somebody to say that”.

Xx

An anxious hour later and after much toing and froing and pacing back and forth and nail biting, a huge collective sigh of relief was released when the distinctive cries of a new born babe were heard coming from John and Elsie’s bedroom upstairs at Blythe Farm. A relaxed looking Gilbert trotted down the stairs, wiping his hands on a towel. He stood on the bottom step and decreed “I am pleased to announce the arrival on this Christmas day of Baby Anne Cordelia Wright……” everyone gasped and cheered, whilst Anne’s hand went to cover her mouth in surprise, Diana had named her baby after her, she promptly burst into tears and ran into her husband’s arms. He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around his wife “……. mother and baby are doing well……...and Fred is crying” he laughed and then bent down and kissed Anne whilst John decided it was a good excuse to top everybody’s glasses up for a toast.

“Can I go see her?” Anne asked him quietly whilst everybody else was cheersing with each other.

He smiled at her lovingly, “She’s asking for you” he confirmed and she turned to go up the stairs. He caught hold of her arm as she passed him and he looked up at her anxiously “Are you ok? I was worried about you for a moment there…...you looked like you were going to pass out……...go see Di and then I want to give you a check over……. Ok?” he said tenderly, she could see the anxiety in his eyes.

“I’m fine Gil……. I think I’m just a bit tense……...and I guess I’m a bit anxious about the birth ………squeezing one watermelon out of your hoohar is bad enough, let alone two” she smiled painfully at him. ”I was just a bit overwhelmed by the thought of it is all”.

He took her hand and walked back up the stairs with her where it was a bit quieter “Look I can arrange a c section for you, you know that”.

“I know” she stroked his cheek, trying to ease the tension out of his face “but that’s not what I want unless I absolutely have to have one, the recovery time is so much longer, and I will need to be up and about as soon as possible with five children Gil……I want to be up and about as soon as possible”.

“Ok as long as you are sure……go say Hi to Baby Anne” he grinned “and then I am going to check you over, once I have had something to eat……. I’m famished”.

“Ok……. your mum plated your dinner up for you and has left it in the fridge……..oh and by the way….I love you Dr Blythe…….thanks for looking after Di”.

“Love you too Carrots” he beamed at her and then went back down the stairs as Anne went in to see Diana and the baby.

Gilbert whistled happily to himself as he turned the corner to go into the kitchen, throwing the towel in the washing machine as he passed it, but then looked up to see Aunt Mary Maria sitting alone at the table eating a Christmas dinner.

“Oh, hello Auntie……. did you hear the baby had been born……...she’s named her Anne……. after…….”

“Annie?”

“No Anne…….my wife’s name is Anne……. not Annie, Auntie”.

He opened the fridge and stood looking for his Christmas dinner to warm up, he stuck his head further in and started rummaging around looking for it.

“Are you sure it’s not Annie……. that’s a much prettier name than just plain old Anne” Aunt Mary Maria said, chowing down on the plate of food in front of her.

“Er yes, I think I know what my wife’s name is…….and it’s with an e at the end”. He smiled to himself, knowing how important that was to his wife “so it not remotely plain……. MUM?........where is my dinner……. I can’t see it” he called to his mother.

Elsie came bustling into the kitchen and then froze when she saw Aunt Mary Maria sitting at the table eating a plateful of Christmas dinner. “Where did you get that from?” she asked as politely as she could muster.

“The fridge……. I warmed it up in the microwave”.

Elsie glared at her “That was Gilbert’s dinner!”

“Well how was I supposed to know that…….I got hungry upstairs after having my feeling so utterly hurt by Annie……..so I came down for a snack”.

“A snack? ………that’s a full Christmas dinner…….and your second one today” Elsie fumed, steam practically gushing out of her ears. “You have eaten my sons dinner……whilst he was upstairs delivering a baby…….you…….you……..”

“Its ok Mum” Gilbert interrupted his mother, putting a comforting arm around her “I’ll just have some toast…..it’s fine” he kissed her on the cheek. Elsie still stood there with her hand on her hips glowering at Aunt Mary Maria, a shiny black cat whom Joy had named ‘Malinky’ circling her ankles.

Aunt Mary Maria pointed at the cat with her fork, “You need to keep that cat away from that babe upstairs, they have been known to suck baby’s breaths right out of their very lungs”

Gilbert couldn’t help but scoff as he stood leaning against the counter top waiting for his toast to pop up. “That really doesn’t happen Auntie.”

“It’s a shame they don’t suck old crones’ breaths away………perhaps we should try it?” his mother said under her breath as she took over making him a snack, nudging him away from the counter with her hip and indicating for him to sit down at the table.

“What a Cat-as-trophe that would be” he joked, grinning at his mother.

Chapter Text

“What are we thinking Gil?........what on earth are we doing?” Anne murmured almost to herself as she wandered around the empty apartment.

She had woken up that morning with the realization that they had slept their last night under the roof of their little apartment. The day had been busy and when the evening came the house had been stripped bare, the last of the removal trucks had just departed and the children had been taken back to the Island already by Mary and Bash who were helping them move, leaving just her Gilbert and Rusty alone in the apartment to say their farewells.

“I know it seemed like a good idea at the time …….but how can we leave this darling spot?” she lamented as he came up behind her and rested his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist “……this has been our house of dreams…….it is unthinkable that we should leave it…….so much has happened here……..is it too late to change our minds?”

He chuckled at her and turned her around in his arms, kissing her softly on her nose. “I know, I know I understand, I feel the same but we always knew we would have to find a bigger place some day or another, and when I saw that the old Morgan place was up for sale, I knew I had to act quickly, it’s not often that a big old place like that comes onto the market.”

“But do we need to go just yet? Can’t we stay another night……. Just the two of us…..it seems so soon”.

He held her tighter in his arms and rested his forehead against hers “This little place…….it has been like no other place can ever be to us, we will hold it in our hearts as sacred".

“I know” Anne whispered tearfully “I’m going to miss Winnie though…….and Josie and Charlie and Baby Charlotte……” she wiped her nose on her sleeve.

“But you will have Di and Fred and Bash Mary and Delly Bean back home on the Island Anne……and the kids are thrilled to be moving to PEI” he patted her pregnant stomach “……and these little monkeys will be truly born and bred Island babies” he said proudly.

She smiled up at him “I know, I know we will be happy there Gil……it’s just hard to say goodbye……we will never be able to come back here……..this is the first place I felt truly loved that I will never be able to visit again…….and I will miss our little garden, I have planted all of the flowers there…..what if a load of ruffians and thugs take over this place and overrun it……oh it will be a desecration……it would hurt me horribly”.

“Now I know you are really upset when you start using big words and quoting Tangled” he smirked and she buried her head in his chest “Think of that big lawn and those magnificent old trees and the splendid grove behind it, acres of it! And the walled garden with a little door in it, you thought it was a story book garden. What a wonderful place for our children to grow up and be able to play to have their imaginations fired up and to find their own ‘Lovers Lanes’, ‘Lakes of Shining waters’ and ‘Rainbow Valley’s’. To be able to ride their bikes into town when they are older instead of growing up in a city”.

“I know, I am just finding it hard to let go of everything we have been through in this apartment Gil…..I have been happier here than anywhere else…….this little place has been consecrated with love and joy…….it was here where we brought Joy home after she was born” she laughed through her tears and she noticed that Gilbert had a tear rolling down his cheek too “Where we discovered the sweetness of parenthood together…..” she chuckled and swiped the tears away from her cheeks. “Can you remember when you turned a whole load of your white work shirts pink just from one of Joys stray pink socks in the laundry”. He nodded and laughed. “Those first few weeks were really hard…… but we did it, we got through them together……..watching The Big Bang Theory together at 3am because she just wouldn’t go back to sleep……..hearing her laugh for the first time in the bathroom when you played Mr Silly Duck with her rubber duck remember? And when Jem got stuck crawling through the cat flap?”

He nodded, gazing lovingly at her.

She took him by the hand and led him back into the sitting room which was now totally empty of all of their belongings. “And here…..” she pulled him over to the middle of the room “…..this is where I told you that I loved you for the first time……..whilst we danced……..remember?”

He leant down and kissed her “I will never forget that day as long as I live” he murmured, his voice thick with emotion. He reached into his back pocket and pulled his phone out and quickly scrolled through it. After tapping it a few times he bent down and put it on the floor next to their feet and stood back up as Bless the Broken Road began to play.

He put one hand behind his back and extended the other one out to her and bowed slightly “Care too?” he asked lightly and she took his hand and he pulled her close, her swollen stomach pressed up against his abs as they swayed gently to the music, their eyes locked together, the chemistry between them still palpable, even after all of these years.

“I love you Gil…….I love you so much” she whispered and reached up onto her tip toes and they kissed as they continued to dance together.

“Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart
They were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms” he sang to her in his proper singing voice and kissed her again.

“I think about the years I spent just passin' through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there, you understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is comin' true” Anne sang to him, tears pouring down both of their faces.

He pulled away from her slightly and twirled her around under his arm and then pulled her back into his chest and they sang together

“And now I'm just a rollin' home into my lover's arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you”

“I love you too……. Carrots” he kissed the back of her hand “I’ve had a million dreams come true within these walls” he looked around the room both fondly and sadly “When I bought this place, I was single and desperately in love with a woman who insisted on calling me her ‘friend’…….” He laughed softly “I was all alone until this little chap came along…….”. He pointed to Rusty who was slinking anxiously around his ankles, unsure what on earth was going on and where all the furniture had gone. But most worrying for the big ginger cat was, what the hell was that God awful box thing doing by the front door, the box that always took him somewhere awful. Gilbert smiled down at the clingy cat and continued “……. I used to lie in bed and dream about what is now my reality……. you were always the only one in the visions of my future…….it was you that kept me awake at night……dreaming colourful versions of how happy we could be together……. you have made all of those dreams come true Anne” he kissed her lightly “………. my whole life has changed, I have you……..the love of my life. We have built a home, with laughter and children and love ……...and a cat……” he laughed as Rusty yowled anxiously “…….. It is our world together and nobody will ever come between us……...and although we are leaving these four walls, we are taking all of those things with us……….and I am happier than I have ever been.” They kissed lightly and he swiped a tear away from her cheek with his thumb.

“Let’s say goodbye to the old place and then go home………it’s time for somebody else’s dreams to start coming true in this place” he whispered and smiled at her, his eyes bewitching and his dimples dimpling.

They walked around the apartment together hand in hand followed closely by a nervous Rusty and said farewell to every room. Anne trailing her fingertips over the bare window sills where her beloved plants had previously sat and the kitchen counter tops one last time, where she had made every birthday cake for her children that they had ever had. A new family would be here in the morning, ready to start their story in this much-loved apartment. She said a little prayer for them as she wandered around for the last time, that they would be as happy as her and Gilbert had been there. The pantry door would still get stuck in the winter and the floorboards in front of the bathroom would still squeak for a good few more years yet to come, and her flowers that she had so lovingly planted would continue to bloom and the trees would blossom without her there to tend to them, but she knew in her heart that her family had outgrown this place, not just the apartment, but the city too.

It was time to go home……back to the Island.

“Ready?” Gilbert said softly as he stood by the door with an annoyed looking Rusty now in the dreaded a pet carrier, in his hand.

“Yeah…….I’m ready……lets sail away into our sunset…….to our happily ever after……...take me home to our Island…….my Island boy”. She extended her hand to him and he took it and he kissed the back of her hand, his eyes full of love for her as they stepped back over the threshold together where he had carried her over as his bride.

Anne turned and pulled the door shut and locked it, and after posting the key through the door she kissed her fingertips and then pressed them against the door, before finally turning back to face her husband, lacing her fingers through his and walking away from their house of dreams.

To be continued...