Anne woke up not long after Diana had gone downstairs. It was still dark in the room, but the sun was filtering in through the curtains.

She'd had a strange dream, where she was in a white rowing boat out on a dark, endless lake. The shore was getting further away and she felt a niggling worry that she shouldn't have left the ground. There was a soft silence and all she could hear was the water against the boat. She felt a tug in her heart to look back and she glanced over her shoulder. There was a figure standing on the shore where the boat had left from. It was difficult to make out their face. There was thick, curling mist rising up from the smoky-black water.

Who was it?

Anne felt longing to go back and be with them. The figure waved to her slowly, as if saying goodbye and panic flooded her body. She was trapped, there was no way back. She desperately cried out but no sound left her mouth. She'd have to swim. Anne dived straight into the lake, forgetting she wasn't a strong swimmer.

The water dragged her thick skirts down and all she could see was the infinite, black water. Her bright red hair floated out around her hair like a flame. She was drowning. There was no way up. Anne opened her mouth and screamed.

She sat up, sweating and gasping for air, clutching the sheets tightly in her fists. She was awake.

The first thing she felt was a tense, sore pain in her side and a tightness around her waist. The first thing she thought was where am I? She suddenly remembered the night before.

The ride with Joseph, the crash, the knife, being lost... passing out. She looked down to her wound and saw that somebody had changed her clothes, and she felt a bandage around her middle. Who had done this? What if one of the riders had found her, or Joseph? They could have only bandaged her up to keep her alive long enough to threaten her or kill her themselves!

Anne was panicking, her imagination running away with the worst scenarios. She tried to stand up, the pain splitting out through her body as she forced herself to move, moaning at the effort. She had to get out of here!

"Woah! Stop!" Came a voice.

Suddenly hands were on her shoulders to slow her and Anne screamed, shocked and scared. She pushed away and lashed out and the hands grabbed her arms.

"Hey - it's me! Anne, it's me!"

"Don't touch me!" She cried, before tumbling off the bed.

A wave of mixed emotions flooded her body and she hit the floor hard. She felt sick.

"Anne!"

Gilbert was beside her in seconds, offering his hands to help her up. Anne felt very overwhelmed and confused and disorientated. She had still not quite recovered from the trauma and blood loss the previous night and the fear and panic from the nightmare. Her vision swam.

"I feel like I'm going to pass out." Anne murmured.

"Let me help you." Gilbert muttered.

Anne pushed aside his hands and tried to pull herself up with determination. But she was still weak and nausea hit her and her head spun. Her arms gave out and Gilbert caught her by the hands.

"Please - you need to lie down." Gilbert sounded frustrated.

"I can do it!" Anne said firmly.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Gilbert frowned, setting his jaw.

Anne stared at him for a moment, wishing there had been anybody except for Gilbert to help her at this time. She had forgotten how infuriating he was.

"What are you doing here?" She asked softly.

His dark eyes flickered away and then up at her again. He hesitated. "I came back and you were gone. You were in trouble. We came to save you."

"I don't need saving." Scoffed Anne.

"Clearly." Gilbert smirked sarcastically.

Anne rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the irritating thought that flew into her head without permission - Gilbert looked so handsome when he smirked.

"You are so smug." She said.

Gilbert sighed and picked her up all of a sudden. It caught her by surprise. She didn't think he'd be strong enough to lift her. He put her gently down on the bed and Anne shoved him off.

"I could have done it myself." She crossed her arms.

"I'm sure you could." He said, and there was surprisingly not a trace of sarcasm or doubt in his words.

Now that the shock had dispersed, Anne felt slightly embarrassed for her emotional outburst. She thought of herself as much more dignified than that, especially in the presence of a rival.

She took a moment to look at the boy and she thought Gilbert looked very different. More grown up, taller and broader. He had an air of knowledge about him, like he'd seen a lot of things and they'd changed him. Anne was jealous of his travelling. She wished she could see more of the world.

"Where am I?" Anne looked around the room. She still felt out of breath and pained from moving and she clutched at her side.

It was simply furnished, clean and unfamiliar. Judging by the lighting, it was early morning. She wondered whether it was the morning after, or had many days passed since the crash? She could have been in a coma!

"A farm. Mr and Mrs Tilderly took us in. They're friends of Rachel Lynde." Gilbert told Anne.

He was watching her raptly, looking for signs of discomfort or pain. His eyes caught on every one of her movements.

"Why did you bring me here?" Anne frowned.

She didn't know the Tilderlys. She'd never met them, or even heard of them. Why would they help her?

"You were hurt... we couldn't reach the town in time." He said.

"We?"

"Diana - She's here too. We went looking for you last night." He said quietly.

Anne felt embarrassed. She'd gotten herself into a stupid situation and she should never have ridden off in the night with a relative stranger! She was absolutely furious with herself for being so naive. She was so desperate to find some excitement and distraction in her life and instead found danger and near death.

Anne gazed out the window. It was a frosty morning, the sun beams beginning to fill the room. The roof was dripping water outside, sounding almost like rain. The sound of rain flashed her back to the night before. The knife glinting in the moonlight. She felt a wave of pain in her side again.

"I have to see Marilla and Mathew. They're going to be terribly worried." Anne thought suddenly, trying to sit up.

"Anne stop - we'll contact them as soon as we can." Gilbert rushed to calm her. "There's no point leaving now. You're only going to open your stitches and pass out again!"

Gilbert wasn't thinking about Anne's perspective. He could only picture her wound reopening and Anne unconscious bleeding out on the floor. Images from the night before were clouding his mind of her lying in the blood-soaked grass, her life slipping away.

"Gilbert, you don't understand--" Anne was trying to get up.

She felt like if she didn't get home to Green Gables soon she'd put them in danger. She couldn't lose her family. Joseph was still on the loose... He could target Green Gables and hurt Mathew and Marilla. She had to get back to them before something bad happened.

"You need to rest!" Gil said impatiently, grabbing her hands again. Why wouldn't she let him help her?

"Let go of me!" Anne snarled, her temper flaring up. "I need to get home."

"I won't let you get up and go running off getting hurt again!" He snapped. "I won't rescue you twice. You clearly have no gratitude for it."

Anne pulled herself free and stared at the boy, anger and frustration filling her up.

"Blythe! You are such a terrible pain! I was a stupid fool to miss you." She snapped, pushing him again. "I don't need you to rescue me, so go ahead and leave."

Gilbert felt a twang in his chest. She had missed him? Had she missed him as much as he'd missed her? Why was she being so horrible to him if she'd missed him? He had desperately wanted their reunion to be amicable at least so they could be friends, but here they were fighting - as usual.

Why did he expect anything different?

"If you want me to leave so much why did you say you missed me?" He said and there was a crack in his voice.

"I only missed an academic rival, Gilbert. You're not my friend. I wish you would leave town all over again." She cried.

It was said in the heat of her infamous, blazing temper and she didn't mean a word of it. But Gilbert was hurt. He bit his lip and stood up, his brown eyes flickering to her face once more before walking to the door. Anne felt regret seeping in already. Why did she have such a hateful temper?

Gilbert looked at her. He didn't understand what had made her so angry at him. He was only trying to help. What was she so afraid of?

"Well I won't be in your way much longer, don't worry." He said, and he couldn't disguise the hurt in his voice.

Then he turned and left the room. Anne sat there in silence, her wound aching agonisingly from the straining movements. She felt a lump in her throat and she started to cry. She felt helpless and scared and she'd driven away somebody who could have helped her.

A/N I have edited this so many times and it's still not how I want it to be but here it is!! I hope you like it. I tried to make it as accurate as I could considering what they've both been through and how they're bound to be feeling and what must be going through their heads. Some of you were probably hoping for a nice reunion but don't worry, there will be shirbert fluff soon, but good things are worth waiting for. I wanted it to be as realistic as possible and you gotta remember they're notorious for disagreeing and fighting!