Imagines and Preferences: Book 2

Preference: Prompt 35 | Anne With an E

Prompt #35
Requested by me

Season three killed me but oh my gosh it was amazing. I feel like the whole note situation was designed to torture the audience. But it's good. It's all good. Please renew it Netflix. Thank you.

Summary: Things don't go as planned.

QOTP: How many times did you cry watching season three?

Word Count: 3637

Gilbert -
You've known Gilbert Blythe practically your entire life. Your family had always lived in Avonlea and had about the same income and station in society as Gilbert's — at least, before tragedy struck.

Over the years, your family has helped him in any way that you could, especially after his father died. And it broke your heart when he left, going off to see the world and work on a ship, unsure of if or when he was coming back.

You met him on the road as he was leaving, heading for the train so he could go to the docks in Charlottetown. He had a letter for you in his hand, one he was going to simply drop off before you woke. He didn't count on you rising early to see him off.

"You weren't going to say goodbye to me?" you said, hurt.

He frowned deeply. "I... I thought it would be too hard to say goodbye to you in person... And I was right."

Tears in your eyes, you reached out and grabbed his hand. "Then let's not say goodbye."

"Y/N-"

"How about, 'I'll see you soon?'"

He smiled a little and took your other hand softly in his own. And then he said, "I'll see you soon..."

You both just looked at each other for a moment, your hearts full with something that could not be love, not yet, not at that age surely, yet it was just as strong. You had an overwhelming feeling of not wanting to let go, not wanting to watch him leave. But you knew you had to.

You let go of his hands and reached back behind you, untying the ribbon from your hair. You held it out to him. "To remember me by. Until you get back."

"How could I ever forget you?" he replied, but he took it anyway, and he held it close.

He had it with him the entire time that he was gone, and you kept his letter likewise. He thanked you in it, for everything that you and your family had done for him, and it said that he didn't know when he would be back but that he would never forget you, no matter what happened, and he hoped you would think of him sometimes while you were chasing your own dreams.

Then, when you found out that there was gold in Avonlea, both you and Anne knew Gilbert had to know, that the prospect of it might bring him back, but to an even better life. And so you wrote to him, and by the time he finally got back, you knew it was all a lie.

But he brought Sebastian with him, and he was staying. He wanted to become a doctor. He told you all about it when he came to bring your ribbon back.

Now, it's nearly time for college — your last year in school at Avonlea, almost over — and Mary, Sebastian's wife, has just died and left a baby daughter behind. The whole community has come together, especially Miss Cuthbert and Mrs. Lynde, to help. And you, of course, came whenever you could, which was usually after school. Gilbert certainly didn't mind it — and neither did Sebastian, who believed that Gilbert was love with you ever since he saw your ribbon in Gilbert's hand when they were on the boat.

One Saturday morning, you got up bright and early to go to the Blythe's, armed with nappies, clothes, and biscuits you made before leaving. You knew enough about their specific situation to know they would need all that, and Gilbert was supposed to be leaving for Charlottetown for his job at the doctor's that morning.