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Chapter Text

(A Playlist of their Short Dance, Rhythm Dance and Exhibition.)

Gilbert Blythe is 13 years old when he decides he wants to be an Olympic figure skater.

He's watching the Vancouver Olympics from inside the ice center, his dad by his side, and he's enthralled. The way each skater is so fluid and graceful, yet so powerful as they leap into the air and seemingly defy gravity for a split second. He wants to do that, wants to fly like these men and women do. He can't decide, at first, which discipline he wants to focus on though. Does he want to be a soloist, only relying on himself to achieve greatness? No, he decides, glancing at his father, that sounds rather lonely. So, does he take up pairs skating? Flying through the air in sync with someone else, throwing their body across the ice and hoping he's done it right lest they fall into a crumpled heap, rather than gracefully touching down? Gilbert shudders. No, that was entirely too much pressure, he couldn't live with himself if he got someone else hurt.

His answer comes, at last, as he watches the ice dancers take center stage. His gaze centers on a pair dressed entirely in white and black as they glide effortlessly across the ice. He watches, enraptured, as the couple in white performs with nary a spin or step out of time, truly dancing across the ice more smoothly than any waltz he'd ever seen. They fly through the air, they hold poses in sweeping lines, and never once do they seem to falter in their trust in one another. They seem so in sync with each other, so at ease... What would it be like, to know someone like that? To be so in tune with them, so that every move across the ice is perfectly in step with theirs?

By the time Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are accepting their gold medals and singing their anthem, Gilbert Blythe decides he's taking up figure skating when he returns to Prince Edward Island.

Anne Shirley is 11 years old when she knows, without a doubt, that her destiny is to become an Olympic figure skater.

She's watching the Cuthberts' television with a laser focus, barely hearing Marilla's conversation with Mrs. Lynde in the kitchen. Nothing could sway her from the screen where skaters from across the world were gliding and flying across the ice for the crowd of thousands in attendance. What would it be like, to be loved like that? To have a whole nation take pride in your achievements with you? It would be a dream come true for an orphan who'd never had such feelings from even one person. (She doesn't know she's in the presence of three such people, yet; it's still too new, the foster stage still too uncertain, but one day she'll understand, when the pride of a country pales in comparison to the pride from the people she loves most. But that will be then, and this is now, and right now she's 11 and dreaming.)

She spends each division wondering if this is the division she would join. At first she's convinced she would be a soloist; for a girl who's been alone all her life, why would being alone on the ice phase her? There would be no one to trust but herself, just like always. (Something about that rang hollow to her; she was never meant to be a soloist, not like that.) But then the pairs skating would start, and suddenly she dreamed of being thrown across the ice, of flying for just a few seconds, trusting her partner not to let her fall. As fun as skating alone sounded, it sounded even better with a partner, someone to rely on for once; she wouldn't have to shoulder the entire burden of the world on her shoulders. Yes, she decides, pairs skating would be her preferred event... Even if it did look rather terrifying, some of the tricks they performed....

But then the ice dancers take the ice, and suddenly her mind is made up anew, once and for all, for what, truly, could be more romantical than dancing across the ice? Each dance was unique, and yet it all rang true to a part of Anne's soul that she'd never known existed, as if the sport itself was her kindred spirit. She sighs as each couple entwines, gasps when they leap apart, and nearly cries at the end of each song, sad that the dance has come to an end. But it never truly ends, she notices; the best couples, the ones she cheers for the loudest, are so in tune with each other that it's almost as if they're dancing still as they move about together off the ice. With a pang of longing, she thinks she'd like to know someone that intimately, a friend so dear that she can anticipate their every move, so open and honest with them that there are no secrets–there can't be, in situations like this.

She is buzzing with energy come the medal ceremony, unable to even be truly upset that her favorite couple only receives silver when the Canadians have the gold at home and she's hatching a plan to start figure skating lessons as soon as possible.

Gilbert Blythe is 13 years old when he really, sincerely, completely, regrets taking up figure skating lessons.

Or, maybe that's not completely true. If he thought about it for more than a second around the throbbing at his temple, he'd realize he really just regrets trying to make friends with the red head in his Charlottetown Skating Club class in what is, quite possibly, the single dumbest way he possibly could. He can't even begrudge her for throwing her skate at him, especially since it wasn't blade-first; "Carrot Sticks", in hindsight, was not his finest attempt at a nickname.

But Gilbert Blythe is 13, and in pain, and all he can think is "God I hope she isn't going to be my skating partner."

(Gilbert Blythe has never been so lucky. Or, maybe he was, he'll think 12 years later, quite possibly the luckiest boy on the planet. But that will be then, and this is now.)

Anne Shirley is 11 years old, and she's never been so infuriated in her life.

Carrot Sticks, really?!? He couldn't come up with something a little more original? As far as she's concerned, he had the skate coming; she only feels a little bad about the cut on his cheek--she'd intentionally thrown it boot-first, she's not a monster (unlike certain curly-haired boys she could mention). She really doesn't understand why Coach Stacy won't see her side on this, the coach had seemed like such a kindred spirit at first. Admittedly the punishment could've been worse though; 5 laps around the rink seemed more like extra training than a punishment. Oh well, at least it kept her away from The Enemy, though it did mean she only half heard the pairing assignments.... Why is That Boy looking at her like that?

Oh.

Oh no.

Gilbert Blythe is 15, and he despairs of ever even winning a competition, let alone the Olympics, with his partner.

No matter what he does, no matter how he begs and grovels and apologizes, she never seems to warm up to him. And oh, how he wishes she would warm up to him, because something in him knows they would be amazing, spectacular, gold medal-winning as a pair if she would just trust him. He's seen her skate alone, and even though they've only been doing this for 2 years he'd have thought she'd been skating from birth. She looks as though she was born to skate across the ice rather than walk on solid ground. He isn't nearly so graceful, though he tries, and he practices and he trains hard in the hopes that maybe, if he's good enough, he'll be able to be the partner she deserves. But none of that will matter if she won't trust him! Coach Stacy says to give her time, but after 2 years he despairs of anything changing her mind.

But then comes a dare, and a cold pond, and suddenly her approval is the least of his worries.

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert is 13, and she has no idea how Josie Pye talked her into this situation.

No, she does know how: Anne is stubborn, and unwilling to back down from a challenge, and desperate for the Avonlea girls to like her. So when Josie Pye dared her to skate her routine with Gil-The Boy across the Lake of Shining Waters, how could she say no?

The only issue was convincing The Boy to skate with her; he deemed the ice not thick enough to support their weight, and refused to skate. Just cause he was two years older didn't mean he was an expert on everything, so what did he know? And so she skated across the lake alone, modifying the program as best she could so that it could be performed alone. And she was doing fine! Really, she was! She'd caught Diana's smiling face during one of her spins, and of course Ruby was awestruck--she was always awestruck when it came to figure skating. Josie was begrudgingly impressed (always a good sign in Anne's book), and The Boy... She couldn't read his face, but he didn't look bored so that was good enough for her. Everything really was going splendidly.

Until it wasn't.

One minute she was flying through the air in a double Axel, the next she heard a crack and felt herself surrounded by icy cold water and darkness.

Later, she wouldn't remember the girls screaming in fear, running to get an adult. She wouldn't hear Gilbert's shout of "Hold on Anne! I'm coming!" Or see him slide across the ice belly first with a stick in hand. She barely remembers holding onto that same stick as he pulled her out of the icy water. 

No, all she remembers now, as she sits by the fire in the Blythe-LaCroix house, swathed in blankets as she slowly warms back up, is the desperate expression in Gilbert's eyes as she popped her head back above the ice, and the realization that maybe, just maybe, she'd been wrong about him this whole time.

She'd apologize just as soon as her teeth stopped chattering.

Gilbert Blythe is 17, and he's excited for the Olympics.

Not because they'd made it in; goodness no, not on their debut senior season when they'd spent 2 of their four junior years fighting. No, they'd attempted Skate Canada, but they hadn't been even close to the top contenders for the team slots. Still, Miss Stacy had said they'd made an impression on the judges, so for once, he was hopeful that, maybe, someday...

But that would be then, and this was now, as he prepares to watch the Free Dance in Sochi from the comfort of his own home, with his best friend by his side. Admittedly, if you had told him 2 years before that Anne Shirley-Cuthbert would be his best friend some day, he'd have laughed in your face. But that was before the broken ice, and the apology, and the slow opening up to each other, the bonding moments, the laughter and tears and pain and joy shared between them. At long last, they had finally built up some of the trust that he'd been hoping for since he was 13, and a beautiful friendship to boot. Gilbert is indescribably happy, for the first time in... A long time. Now, if only he could figure out why his pulse races whenever Anne looks at him, or why he blushes whenever they accidentally brush hands, or why the more... "Intimate" elements they've been learning leave him longing in a way he doesn't fully understand...

(Future Gilbert will laugh at his teenage self's fumbling confusion, the answer clear as day to him. But that will be then, and this is now, and right now Gilbert doesn't know what to make of himself.)

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert is 15, and she can't believe how excited she is to watch the Olympics with Gilbert by her side.

She's excited to share this moment with him, hopefully only one moment of many more to come. She knows he's excited as she is, that she's finally found someone who cares about this event as much as she does, and this feels like a momentous occasion even though they're just cuddled up under blankets and pillows on the couch in his living room and not at a watch party, or at the venue itself. She's excited for the competition, to see her favorite competitors, to have spirited debates with Gilbert the whole way (how funny was it, that while they'd both fell in love with ice dancing at the same time, they'd been inspired by different couples; many a spirited argument had been had over who was better, Virtue & Moir or Davis & White, and she supposed that today would settle that question for them, at least for now).

They've been debating each dance for several minutes now, discussing elements and judges' scores, freebies and robberies, but a hush falls over them as the final 3 pairs of skaters take the ice. No more words are spoken as they watch each couple, utterly enthralled by their movements. A spell has been cast, just as it was 4 years before, and the effects will last far longer than either could truly anticipate.

It is only during the medal ceremony that words are spoken; Anne was unable to even comment on her favorites' gold medal victory, to gloat good naturedly over Gilbert and his choice of the hometown heroes over the upstart Americans. She can only speak enough to say, "I think that's going to be us, someday, Gil."

Gilbert can only look at her, stare into her eyes with an unreadable expression that nonetheless makes her feel queer little butterflies fluttering through her stomach, and state, "I know that's going to be us, someday, Anne-Girl."

Gilbert Blythe is 17 years old when he realizes he's falling in love with Anne Shirley-Cuthbert.

Everything, and yet nothing, changes after that.

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert is 19 years old when she finally realizes she's in love with Gilbert Blythe.

This... Requires some explanation, because it took her 4 years to realize this, and in hindsight that was 4 years too many. For 4 years, they've trained, competed, and trained some more, working tirelessly to improve their dances and add newer, more difficult elements while they perfect their older ones. They've gotten closer, these past 4 years; a lot closer. Anne considers the LaCroixes the older siblings she never had, and she thinks Gilbert's found some solace in blessed Marilla and Matthew too. But at no point during these past 4 years has she ever even attempted to address her building feelings for Gilbert Blythe, despite their intertwining lives and close bond.

At first, she played it off as focusing on her schooling. In-between training, they graduated high school; first Gilbert, then a year later Anne (she graduated early so that she could start college that much earlier in case she needed a gap year or semester later on, for, say, an Olympic Winter Games or something. Just, hypothetically speaking). That did work for a while, because it was somewhat true; she didn't know when she could possibly find the time for dates when she could barely fit in time for her friends within her busy schedule, and Gilbert wasn't much better off.

Then, more urgently, she came to the realization that dating within a skating pair could be disastrous if the relationship fell apart. She saw no less than 5 skating pairs fall apart this way in the 2 years it took her to complete high school, and she vowed that she could never let that happen to her and Gilbert; not only would that risk their chances at the Olympics, it would risk ruining a friendship she held dear and losing someone she considered a soulmate among kindred spirits. So she buried her feelings for another 2 years, and when Roy Gardner asks her out for coffee, not knowing anything about skating, she happily accepts.

(They break up when Roy and Gilbert fight; Roy was jealous over how much time Anne spent with him despite them both repeatedly saying there's nothing but friendship between them; Anne needs a romantic partner that trusts her, and she's not willing to give up her dream with Gilbert for a guy who honestly didn't have much in common with her anyways other than poetry.) 

(She went on singular, infrequent dates after that, but no one seemed to click. It is only now, sitting next to a hospital bed, that she really comprehends why the other relationships never worked.)

Gilbert Blythe is 21 years old when Anne Shirley-Cuthbert confesses her love to him. It is simultaneously everything and nothing he's ever expected from her.

He has been pining for years, now, after her; admiring her tenacity, her drive, her kindness, her wit. He loves her hair; he loves her eyes; he loves every single freckle she's ever had, all across her body. (He hopes now he'll have permission to kiss every single one of them.)

He has never once said anything. How could he, when his first overture was met with a dismissive laugh and all subsequent ones met with vague discomfort? He's not that kind of guy, the one that forces his feelings on a girl because he thinks she's playing hard to get. She's never encouraged his feelings, and so he keeps them locked away, so as not to ruin a friendship more dear to him than life. He yearns for her love, but he is content with her truest friendship in the meantime, as it is just as precious and just as rarely given.

(If he burns with jealousy when Roy Gardner gets her love, well, that's only for him and the pillow he screams into to know.)

Gilbert dated 2 girls himself, in fact, these past 4 years; he considered them a valiant effort to move on, as is healthy for a boy with an unrequited crush. But, alas, neither were successful. First, there was Christine, who he met his first year of college. Christine was a musician, a wonderful one, who understood his drive for excellence in both his chosen careers (ice dancing and medicine); but they found that because both were so busy with their high-demand careers, they couldn't find enough time for each other to keep the romantic spark alive, and agreed to just keep being friends.

(They found they liked that more, anyways.)

Winifred was a fellow pre-med, with an off-beat sense of humor and an appreciation for figure skating, all perfect for a love match; but she found that she couldn't do long distance, which was often a requirement with Gilbert and Anne traveling across the world to competitions, and would've been compounded when she moved to France for medical school. They broke it off shortly before she left for France, a mutual break, if a bit of a bittersweet one.

And then neither Gilbert nor Anne dated anyone, because it was 2017 and that meant an entire year of training and competing for a slot in the Olympics; not really an ideal time to start a relationship.

Was it worth it? Well.

They made it to Pyeongchang, didn't they?

It was by the skin of their teeth, admittedly, in one of the secondary slots; there was no competing with Virtue & Moir that year for the top slot (they didn't begrudge it, they knew the legendary pair were on the verge of retirement and wanted to go out on a high note; quite frankly they were just happy they'd get to be there when they did, and hoped for a shot at Silver or Bronze). The lead up to Pyeongchang was a blur of preparations, training, and goodbye parties. Their families traveled with them (Bash, Mary, Marilla and Matthew were ecstatic to do so), and for the first week everything was perfect. They didn't compete in the team event (Virtue & Moir had that covered), so they simply prepped for the individuals; there really was no time for anything else.

(The night before the short dance, Gilbert briefly thinks about finally confessing his feelings, to leave nothing on the table before what could be one of the biggest nights of their lives... but he refrains, worried it would only throw them off their rhythm, especially if Anne didn't feel the same. He couldn't risk that, couldn't risk their dream, and so he says nothing.)

The short dance went off without a hitch, with Anne and Gilbert landing in a respectable 9th place. Everything looked set for them to, maybe not contend for the medals, but at least move up to the top 5.

And then Gilbert falls.

It's a side-by-side jumping element gone very, very wrong. Anne lands, perhaps a half turn under rotated but still mostly clean, but Gilbert had messed up his take off. He lands on his left arm with a twist and a near-scream. (They later find out that it had broken, though not as badly as they'd feared, but in the moment it was all Gilbert could do to kneel without crying out in pain, let alone diagnose an injury.) Anne is frantic, waving the music off as she speeds to her partner's side.

(All she can think, in that moment, is "I can't lose him, I can't lose him, I can't lose him."

It's the epiphany she needed all along.)

Later, after ambulance rides and x-rays and plaster casts, they find out the results; Canada wins gold, France silver, the US bronze. They congratulate the winners on social media, and receive many well wishes in response. They're surrounded by family, friends and teammates near constantly, until the final day, before the closing ceremony.

Finally, eventually, blessedly, they are alone.

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert is 19 years old when she confesses, "I think I'm in love with you."

Gilbert Blythe is 21 years old when he smiles, softly, and replies, "I think I'm in love with you too."

Everything, and yet really nothing, changes after that.

The next four years pass in the blink of an eye, in hindsight. That first year, they learn how to retrain as Gilbert's arm heals up, taking it slow and steady.

(When Coach Stacy relocates with them to Toronto at the end of the year, Gilbert asks if they really need two apartments there; they're moved in together within a month.)

The second year is spent easing back into competition, practicing, perfecting, and eventually winning.

(The night after they win the Grand Prix Final for the first time in 3 years, Anne asks Gilbert if he'd like another, much smaller circular gold object, to match his medal. His enthusiastic kiss is all the answer she needs as she slips the ring on his left hand.)

The third and fourth years are spent in preparation: preparation for the Olympics, preparation for retirement, and preparation for marriage. They spend days planning each routine, maximizing their strengths and going as big as they can with every component. They compete wherever possible, earning medal after medal. They aren't all gold (no one is that perfect), but the ones that matter are: Skate Canada, Worlds, and another Grand Prix to add to their collection. By January, it all finally pays off: they're going to Beijing.

(The night before they're set to leave, they throw all their preparations to the wind.)

"Taking the ice now for Team Canada in the Rhythm Dance, please welcome Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley-Cuthbert Blythe, skating to '10 Years'."

"Will the judges please reveal their scores? … For the Rhythm Dance, Canada has received… 90.85 Points!"

"Skating to 'Lover (First Dance Remix)', please welcome, for Team Canada, Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley-Cuthbert Blythe!"

"Judges, the scores, please. … For Team Canada, the judges give a Free Skate score of… 136.12, for a combined score of 226.97! A World Record! Congratulations to Team Canada!"

Gilbert and Anne Shirley-Cuthbert Blythe are 25 and 23 years old, respectively, when they finally win Olympic gold–and a World Record–in Ice Dance.

It is everything they've ever dreamed of.

Finisce.

Chapter Text

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