"Those who hesitate wait for the right moment until they don't recognise when it finally arrives."

The time of great change had come and as good friends should be, Bash and James were equal parts proud and pleased for Gilbert to be pursuing his dream at Medical School and did their best to help him pack and settle everything for his leaving.

It was just a day before Gilbert was due to leave and he was feeling oddly calm. The anxiety and uncertainty had lulled and he was even feeling excited again. The future was bright and he was looking into it with hope and an open mind, doing his very best to put his past firmly behind him.

There were deeds arranged for and signed naming Sebastian a co-owner of the Blythe farm and many discussions had about the general upkeep of the crops, orchard and animals and plans laid out. Gilbert had faith in Bash and he knew although not a farmer from birth like Gilbert, Bash had a love for it and a keen yearning for the simple farm life. Bash had told them he was in love with a woman from the laundry where he'd stayed in Charlottetown named Mary. Lovesick Bash was very entertaining and lifted the spirits of everyone in the Blythe residence by his endless optimistic chatter and funny impressions or dances. He was excited too, and hoping to propose to Mary, even invite her to move in. As Anne sometimes said, life was a well of possibilities and he dived right in.

In the vein of leaving nothing unsaid before they parted ways, James had shared his hopes of travelling back to Ireland. Gilbert thought it was the right thing to do - to go back to his home and tie up all the loose ends of his past, make peace with his Mother if he could... Leave no regrets to grow stagnant. James had received no word from January yet but he thought of her often, wondering if she had decided yet. The idea of her joining him had sparked as a suggestion and had lodged itself in his minds eye until he couldn't picture his journey without her. She had nothing for her here, it made sense. He had a familiar feeling in his heart when she was around, and he knew it was a connection he'd only experienced once before. He wanted so desperately to have that feeling again, to explore it if she'd only let him in...

...

All the talk of taking a boat across the sea made Gilbert ache to be off exploring the world again. Perhaps he would, when medical school was over he could take a year out to sail to distant lands... Anne would come too, of course. He'd told her she could, back when he first confessed he liked her and she'd told him she'd be a terrible wife and would hate to be stuck at home while he was adventuring. 'I can't believe you think I'd want that for you.' He'd said.

Gilbert was clearing out the last few things from his room when he overturned a chest by mistake and the lid fell open, sprawling the contents across the floor. He groaned in irritation and knelt to gather the papers, books and trinkets. The sun caught on something shining amongst a slip of velvet. It had been wrapped up tightly but the string had come loose. Gilbert picked it up and held it up to the light. It was a ring, delicate and inset with small green crystals. It was his Mother's.

Gilbert sighed deeply, lost in memories of his Father talking about her and recounting stories.

Gilbert had no idea where the ring came from or what it was worth but to him it was the most precious thing he owned, invaluable. He couldn't imagine giving it up, not to anyone... but somebody who he knew would treasure it as much as he did. This would be the perfect ring for Anne... He knew she'd love it. It would be a promise ring, for now... and then it would become an engagement ring in a few months or even years perhaps when the time was right.

Suddenly there was a creak outside on the landing and a light rap on his door.

Gilbert jerked from his thoughts and looked up, clearing his throat. "Uh-- come in."

He hastily tucked the ring and string into his breastpocket as Anne's freckled face peered around the door, bright eyes and a slight smile. It widened when she saw him. She was dreamy in light green, her crimson hair braided down her back, tied with white ribbon.

"Hello," Gilbert said softly, smiling in surprise. "Don't you look a picture?"

"Good afternoon, charmer," She said, surveying the mess with a wondering expression. "They said you'd be up here packing up your last few things... I'm already finished. I feel rather out of place, with all my possessions packed up and nothing to do but wait..."

Anne stared at the empty shelves and unusually tidy desk. Gilbert's bed however was a mess of clothes, some folded, some not, even stacks of books which might have been intended for packing. An open travelling trunk lay on the floor by the window, through which a cool breeze brought in scents of fading Summer and late afternoon sun. The rays and shadows flickered over Gilbert who sat in the middle of a large mess which had sprawled from an upturned trunk. Gil's hair was mussed and his lips upturned in a smile, eager for a distraction from his boring task.

Suddenly, he frowned at her. "Have you been crying? Your eyes are red."

Anne half shrugged, looking out the window as her heart churned thinking back to her conversation with Matthew. "A little. It's silly, really..."

"Don't say that. Tell me."

"I just had a little --misunderstanding with Matthew... We figured things out, don't worry. He was upset that I was leaving and didn't quite know how to tell me and all the time I thought I'd upset him somehow, that he was annoyed with me -- oh I was so worried -- but, he managed to tell me. I know it was hard for him to. I'm terribly relieved we did talk before I went away... I'd hate to think of it hanging in my mind, growing every day, growing between us."

Anne paused, her eyes wide from her impassioned recount. She looked at Gilbert. "Everything is alright now."

"Well I'm glad to hear that," Gilbert said gently. "He cares a lot about you. He wouldn't want you to be upset. I'm sure he didn't mean to make you feel that way, but all the same... it must have been difficult to think that you'd upset him."

"It was dreadful, I couldn't bare it."

Anne almost felt like crying again at Gilbert's kind words. It was hard for Matthew to be emotionally vulnerable but for Anne it was hard too sometimes. Her emotions were always on her sleeve and sometimes that was a weakness as well as a strength.

She shook herself and shrugged again, leaning against the wall and changing the subject.

"I feel like such a gooseberry today... there's no use starting any new projects and all of my writing things are packed. I've found myself at sea. I tried to read in the meadow but I got-- distracted and I tried to help Marilla with dinner but I just feel a little in the way..."

Gilbert sat back on his heels and nodded, thinking. Then a boyish smile broke over his face. "Well you can make yourself useful and help me. You're never going to be in the way here."

Anne smiled too and sat beside him, picking up books and sorting through them. They made piles of ones to keep and ones to pack and gathered the strewn papers until the floor was almost clear. They were a good team, and Anne was good company, chattering away about various things and chuckling at some of the funny doodles of Gilbert's they came across.

Around two hours later, Gilbert's yawn brought their productivity to a pause. The sun was lowering in the sky and filled the room with a golden-pink glow. They'd been so busy they'd barely noticed the time flying past.

Anne glanced at him out the corner of her eye and likened him to a cat as he stretched and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. Perhaps a sleek black cat, with curly hair. All long, stretching arms and shifting muscles and endearing yawns.

The top buttons of his shirt were undone and Anne caught sight of his chest, tanned and glorious. She knew how it felt to be pressed against him in a tight hug, how it felt to rest her head against his chest - warm, firm, with that steady heartbeat thumping away beneath. And that neck of his, long with skin so soft, simply calling out to be kissed, tasted...

"See something you like?" Gilbert was smirking slyly, his eyes glinting as he caught her looking.

"Hmm? No-- well, I--" Anne tripped over her words, bringing her gaze up to his hastily.

"Don't fret, there's nothing wrong with ogling your beaux." Gilbert teased, grinning.

He delighted with Anne's shriek of distaste.

"I'm not ogling! Oh Gil - you're truly awful, it sounds ever so dreadful that I should be staring at you like some prize to be won. You do come up with the most horrifying ways of winding me up. Ogling... ugh--" Anne pushed him.

Gilbert caught her hand and held them tight, a delighted smile curling up his lips. There was a sparkle of humour in his deep brown eyes.

"Well, that's quite dramatic even for you - I for one don't think it's dreadful..." Gilbert assumed a very serious expression. "Look at it this way - I always wanted you to look my way and now I find you doing it all the time."

"You do not!" Anne shrieked, much to Gilbert's enjoyment. "I have better things to do than gaze at you, you know."

"I thought we agreed not to lie to one another anymore?" Gilbert was playing with her hands, stroking his thumb over her palm, tracing her veins absently whilst grinning incouragably at her.

Anne despaired, a tired smile on her face as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh how I wish I'd never told you I liked you. You are getting a terribly large ego! I can't even glance at you anymore without it going to your head. In fact, I was better off ignoring you! I believe that made you quite humble, which is infinitely more attractive, you should know..."

"Oh really? Infinitely... Goodness. Is that right?"

Gilbert was enjoying her superiority very much. He loved to see how far he could push it, and was never disappointed by her endless cutting remarks and witty replies. They were getting closer, their work forgotten.

"If I'm so big-headed then how come you still like me then?" Gilbert quipped.

"I suppose I should say it has something to do with those big brown eyes of yours which I could lose myself in... maybe your dreamy smile... I suppose I ought to say I like all that. But I'm not in the habit of lying." Anne stuck out her tongue at him.

Gilbert laughed loudly. "You know I wouldn't know what to do with myself if there's ever a day when you don't start arguments with me over the smallest things."

"I wouldn't know what to do if you weren't around to irritate me."

"You're absolutely impossible, you know that?" Gilbert was laughing as he leant in. "You drive me mad."

"Oh, I work very hard to do so."

"Enough talking, Carrots."

Gilbert kissed her suddenly, surprising her for a moment before her hands went to his cheeks and she returned the kiss. Both of them felt that familiar burning in their veins, the fluttering growing in their chests like a cage of butterflies desperate for escape. But the feeling never went away, the bitterflies remained.

"Gilbert--" Anne muttered and her hand went down his neck, remembering how she'd kissed it in her bedroom and the noises he'd made. The way she'd made him feel.

Gilbert cupped Anne's face, his thumbs over her jaw, his fingers sliding into her hair, pulling at her braid. He loved her braids but even more he loved when her hair was loose in all of its fiery glory.

"That's better," Gil breathed as his fingers worked through the white ribbon and her hair fell down in waves around her shoulders. "My Anne."

The kiss was slow and exploring for a while, but as it always tended to, it grew in passion. The upcoming seperation was on both of their minds, the months apart, the longing they would surely suffer for the others company.

By the level of desperation, Anne and Gilbert could have been starved of oxygen and the other contained the very air they needed to survive. That heady sensation in their chests soaked over them like a wave of urgent adoration.

Gilbert leant into the kiss even more and Anne lost her balance, falling backwards onto the floorboards. She gasped in surprise then they both dissolved into breathless laughter.

They shoved aside a pile of books, still laughing. Anne reached up and pulled Gil down to meet her lips, forcing him to settle over her, resting with his hands either side of her head. She could sense his weight above her, suspended as he kissed her. She imagined it against her, heavy and reassuringly close. Her fingers tugged at the hem of his shirt and skimmed beneath it, dancing over his hips and up the small of his back, feeling his warmth and the slight textures of scars and muscles. She heard Gilbert sigh and she knew he was melting at her touch.

"You're so beautiful," Gilbert was muttering between kisses, his lips heavy on hers, scattering kisses across her face, her cheeks, her nose until she broke out in giggles again.

"So are you," She whispered into his ear. "You are so, so beautiful Gilbert. I love every inch of you, every imperfection, every hair, every dimple and scar, you are so beautiful."

Anne slid her hands out of his shirt and up to his collar, pulling at it as she kissed him. Her fingers teased along his neck and his eyes fluttered shut. His sensitivity to her touch was something she'd never quite noticed before but she loved it. Anne tugged on Gilbert's shirt collar and suddenly he fell onto his elbows, laughing into her shoulder, muffled by her hair.

"Take off the damn shirt already," Came his voice. "You infuriating girl."

Anne's fingers fumbled with the buttons as he began kissing her neck, the edge of her ear, her earlobe. It was very distracting, but finally she managed. His shirt fell open and her hands spread across his chest, that beautiful, hot skin. She felt his heart hammering wildly against his ribs and pulled him down against her so she could feel him, warm and alive and completely hers. He was heavy but she didn't mind. He anchored her to reality, made her feel safe and loved and somewhat crazy.

"I'm crushing you," Gilbert gasped against her shoulder, his breath warm.

"Shhh, it's fine." Anne muttered. "Just hold me, Gil."

Anne's fingers trailed over his broad shoulders into his curly hair. Remembering how tactile he was she tugged on his hair gently and played with it. Small sighs and moans came from his mouth and his breathing slowed as he relaxed. She knew how he loved that, and it worked as a fine distraction for a while, before he finally spoke.

"I love you." Gilbert whispered, his words almost lost against her shoulder.

"I love you." Anne replied, cradling him against her, his hands on her hips as he rested on her as though asleep. Perfectly relaxed and comfortable together.

Anne thought afterwards that it was almost how a parent or sibling might hold their family member and how Gilbert, like her had been deprived of the opportunity to be held and comforted and touched in this way his whole life. It was cathartic for them both to provide this contact for each other.

"Alright, enough," Gilbert finally dragged himself up. "You're gonna be crushed."

Gilbert shifted and Anne felt his hands on her waist. Then he rolled them over so he was lying on his back and Anne lay on top, her head in the crook of his neck. His fingers hooked around her hair and pulled it out of their faces, down her back where he ran his hands through it slowly.

"Better?" Anne whispered, voice a little hoarse.

"I prefer my Anne's not flattened, so yes." There was a laugh in his words.

"You're exaggerating. It wasn't so bad, in fact I didn't mind at all. It was nice, somehow, I don't know..." Anne admitted quietly and Gilbert could just make out a blush creeping on her cheeks. "I felt safe."

"You're always safe with me. I don't have to crush you to make you sure though."

"I know you're teasing me!" Anne groaned and poked him.

"Alright, I surrender." He said gently. "You know, I don't know what to expect when you're in this mood."

"What mood?" Anne demanded.

"Reckless, impulsive, passionate... more than usual, of course."

That earned another poke.

"Hey!"

"I don't meant to be," Anne murmured, flushing even darker. "You make me that way."

"As much as I love that reckless Anne, the one who is passionate and drives me absolutely crazy, if we keep this up I honestly can't control myself for long..." Gilbert said under his breath. "I don't want to be the person in those rumours, the one who ruined your reputation... I want to make an honest woman out of you before we..." Gilbert said slowly. "Before..."

"You're probably right..." Anne said, then her big grey eyes flickered up to meet Gilbert's dark ones. "Although I don't see the difference in one or two days... what is the difference in a wedding night and the day before? Only a few vows."

"Stop, you're going to talk me into something crazy! I know it!" Gil laughed. "Look at us, what a state. Two wild things."

"Not all wild things are bad." Anne shrugged.

"I can't believe you really pulled my shirt off." Gil chuckled.

"I've seen you without one before. You look much better without one." Anne said shamelessly, tracing his shoulder with her fingers.

"You always seem to pull my hair, too."

"You like it. I think you're like a cat, who likes to be petted. You're so tactile, it's sweet."

"A cat?" Gilbert blanched. "You always surprise me, Anne."

They both laughed.

"Well, speaking of tactile, you seemed to like this very much," Then Gilbert's lips were on her neck again, kissing her jaw, her earlobe, her cheek. Anne was lost for a moment, then--

"Get off, I thought you wanted me to be an honest woman!" Anne giggled, twisting away from his grasp before she could give into his touch again.

Gilbert watched her with glowing eyes, that special look reserved only for her. She picked up his shirt and held it up, inspecting it. He reached out his hand for it but she snatched it out of reach, grinning.

"I told you, you look better without it--"

"Give it--" Gilbert lunged for it and before long they were tussling on the floor, struggling for possesion of his shirt. Gilbert won of course and he sat up, victorious. He realised he was straddling Anne's waist and hastily climbed off, a dark blush spreading through his cheeks.

"Wild things." Anne muttered and they smiled bashfully at one another.

Gilbert donned his shirt and Anne found her hair ribbon, tidying her hair. It took a while for their heartbeats to slow down and their cheeks to stop burning with that lovesick flush. Anne decided to distance herself from that temptingly beautiful boy by sitting on his bed and sorting through his boring medical books whilst he packed his clothes.

Eventually everything was finished. Hungry and exhausted, they went downstairs to the kitchen. Bash had cooked a delicious vegetable stew seasoned with curry powder. It was early yet so Anne decided to stay for a quick bite. James kept her rambling on about college until it was time for her to go. She bade them goodbye and good luck as she wouldn't see them now for a good while as she was leaving the next morning. She gave James and Bash her college address so they could keep in touch and promised to write as often as she could. As could be expected with Anne the goodbye comprised of hugs and plenty of tears.

Gilbert walked her home and the evening was crisp and gentle, a thick blanket of hush had descended on Avonlea, misting through the silver birch forests and padding across the soft woodland earth, singing in the sleepy birdsong and distant seagulls from the bay, flurrying through the leaves which were tinging amber and drifting across the lilac sky which hung with a sunset. The red road to Green Gables seemed to go on for a considerable time but it didn't drag, instead it didn't seem to last long enough.

When they finally reached the large white double gates Gilbert took Anne's hand. Dusk had fallen and the sky was bruised deep purple, swallows darting across the clouds. Anne looked up at him with her large moon eyes. Gilbert pictured for a moment giving her the ring then and there, but it was dinner time and Marilla would surely wonder where Anne was.

"Meet me at the crossroads at 8 tomorrow. I have to see you before we leave. Promise?"

Anne nodded, her eyes heavy as they gazed at him, magnetised.

"Of course I will."

"Goodnight, Anne girl."

"Goodnight, Gil."

They hugged and Gilbert kissed the top of her head and waited as she walked up the yard to the porch where she gave a final wave and disappeared into the house. Gilbert smiled to himself and his hand went to his chest where he felt the ring still in his shirt pocket. He took it out and threaded it onto the string and tied it around his neck, tucking it safely beneath his clothes.

Tomorrow he'd meet Anne at the crossroads and they'd say goodbye and he'd give her the promise ring before they parted ways... Smiling, Gilbert walked home.

A/N hi sooo I had some other stuff planned for this chapter(lots of drama etc) but everything is very heavy atm and I'm struggling to focus on writing so here is some sPiCy ShIRbERT. That's what we all want and deserve, let's be honest !!

I hope you're all doing okay, sending you all the love and support that you need in this intense time!

P.s. the artwork at the beginning of the chapter is something I made, my instagram art account is @ holly.freya.arts (basically just a bunch of awae fan art) if you wanna check it out xx