𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐞...𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬

a moment too late (shirbert)

A twist on Episodes 8, 9, and 10 of Anne with an E; what if Gilbert had already proposed to Winifred and Anne realized her feelings for him? It's all in a moment, yet a moment too late can change everything. Inspired by Little Women.

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"My whole future laid out to me on a silver platter. I'm going to Paris, the Sorbonne...if I marry Winifred. Should I?" Gilbert explained to Anne as he paced around the campfire.

"You should marry Winifred. Her parents are supportive, and she's lovely. That's your future...she's your future...You don't want to be a country doctor, so what's holding you back?"

"Just...one thing." He looked deep into her eyes, certain that those 30 seconds of the silence spoke volumes and told her all that she needed to know. The only sound was of their drunk classmates partying in the background.

"I don't know what to say...what am I supposed to...and everyone is just...and you are...and we never even...and I'm pirate and Paris...never going to find, that much I know, so how...can't...I we..." Anne poured out in a stream of words.

"Come on, Anne, time for the Beltane ritual!" Ruby yelled, breaking the silence. Anne opened her mouth to protest, but the other girls were already tugging her away. As Gilbert watched her, he could feel his heart shattering.

She doesn't want me, he realized.

Gilbert turned away, his fists clenched. For a split second, he felt a fresh wave of anger wash over him, but then, it became a surge of sadness.

"Well, I'll be off then...night."

The truth was there, plain and simple, the crystal clear writing on the wall.

She didn't want him.

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"So, I've decided I'm going to propose," Gilbert said to Bash the next morning. After holding back all the tears from the rejection at the ruins that night, he had finally made up his mind: he'd marry Winifred.

Oh! I knew it, I called it!" Bash exclaimed. "I knew it, I knew it! From that moment you got onto the ship, it was always Anne!" He jumped up from his seat and proceeded to do a little victory dance. "I won!"

"I'm proposing to Winifred."

Bash stopped abruptly. "What happened with Anne?"

"Well...she doesn't love me. She basically rejected me at the ruins last night."

"Why do you want to marry Winifred?" Bash put his hands on his hips, his eyebrows raised.

"I don't know, she's just easy to get along with. She's a kind girl."

"Is it true love? Mary's dying wish for you was to always marry for love, nothing else."

"I'll figure it out all in due time," Gilbert said, sounding more sure than he really felt. "I already have a ring. It was my mother's."

Bash's mouth was set in a thin line. "Are you sure of it?"

"I'm sure, don't worry about me."

That was what he kept trying to convince himself.

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"Oh, how could fate be so cruel?" Anne groaned, falling back onto her bed. "How could I have known...in that exact moment—ugh!"

"What's wrong?" Diana asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"Just about everything, my dear, sweet Diana," Anne answered, muffled through the pillow she put over her face. "You are so lucky you haven't ever fallen in love yet, not seriously."