In Room 203

[kitchen_maid]

You can't exactly grieve for a girl who went to heaven, can you? But you can miss her. And so Amy has been a little . . . subdued these past couple of days. Not depressed, not upset, but a little sober and reflective.

And so she's kept mostly to her room, and her sewing, talking to Anne when Anne is there, talking to the squirrels and Peter Aurelious when Anne is not. Putting off finding and talking to other people, even the ones she probably needs to find and talk to.

Anne is here now, which is good, as Amy is running out of things to say to the squirrels and Peter Aurelious, and they're not often inclined to introduce new topics themselves.

Comments

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne bends to help her, smiling.

"I don't think any of the people we would invite would really mind close quarters, anyway," she points out.

"And Phil offered to bring chocolate cake."

[kitchen_maid]

"That sounds delightful," Amy says, reaching under Anne's bed for the spool of thread and coming up with Simon Perryvall instead.

"And we'll need gingerbread. And perhaps cider?"

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"Oh!"

Anne sits up, delighted.

"Have you ever made a gingerbread house?"

[kitchen_maid]

"Made one? No. But Mr. Pemberthy used to make amazing ones, back home."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne blinks.


"...Mr. Pemberthy?"

[kitchen_maid]

"Of course," says Amy, easily.

And then realizes.

And throws her head back, laughing.

"Not the squirrel," she says. "Mr. Pemberthy is a pastry chef at the palace, a wonderful jolly man with red hair. I named this Mr. Pemberthy after him."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne laughs, too.

"Oh," she says, amused, "yes, that makes much more sense."

[kitchen_maid]

"Can you imagine? Our Mr. Pemberthy with . . . Anne, how on Earth are we going to keep the squirrels out of the decorations?"

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"Distract them with wrapping paper, perhaps?"

[kitchen_maid]

Amy eyes the squirrels uncertainly, as they chase each other across Anne's desk.

"Perhaps."

She smiles. "Or we'll make it a party game. Everyone has to take a turn distracting the squirrels."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne nods, and the thinks, and dissolves into laughter.

"...Logan and the squirrels..."

[kitchen_maid]

Amy grins.

"Logan has met Simon Perryvall," she says. "Simon Perryvall tried to climb down his collar."

She begins to giggle.

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"I don't know who I would worry about getting distracted more," Anne laughs, "Logan or the squirrels."

[kitchen_maid]

"Perhaps we can put them in charge of distracting each other?" Amy suggests.

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"I think that'll do nicely," Anne says, cheerfully. "And that means we've two people to invite already, Phil and Logan. And Gil and Caspian, of course."

[kitchen_maid]

"Of course," says Amy. "Oh, and we should invite Al. And Lucy. And-- should I be making a list?"

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne gets up and goes to her desk, taking out a sheet of paper and writing quickly and neatly.

"Lucy," she says, and pauses.

"Lilly and Meg? And Elaine, and her beau."

[kindred_spirit]

The knock on the door is sudden and sharp and loud and insistant.

This is the knock of someone with news.

"Anne!"

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

She looks up sharply, and crosses to the door in a moment, the pen dropping from her hand to bounce on the floor, and opens the door, concerned.

"Gil, what is it? Is something wrong?"

[kindred_spirit]

"It's the door. Anne, the door. It opened."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

She looks at him, uncomprehending. No, the door doesn't open. It never has, not in months. She won't get her hopes up again.

"...the door?"

[kindred_spirit]

"The door, Anne. I saw Avonlea. I saw Green Gables. The door is open. Let's go home."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

And she looks at the joy in his smile, and it's real, suddenly, and she cries out in delight and throws herself into him, hugging him tightly for a moment before letting go, moving distractedly.

"Yes--yes, let's--oh, Gil! We can go home!"

And then she sees Amy. And she quiets.

"Oh--Amy--I'm so sorry, dear, but I--I have to go. I promise to come back soon."

[kitchen_maid]

Amy's eyes are very bright, and she knows, even if Anne doesn't, that the unspoken end of that sentence is if I can.

"Of course you have to go, Anne. And I'm very very happy for you."

She hugs Anne very tight for a long moment.

"When you come back, we'll finish planning our party."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne hugs her back tightly, closing her eyes, and nods.

"We have to. Think of more people to invite, so when I come back we can write out a list, all right?"

When she pulls away, gray eyes are also suspiciously bright, and her glance falls to the quilt, spread so cheerfully on Amy's bed.

She looks at Gil.

"Let me write a few notes, first, and then we'll go," she says, softly.

[kindred_spirit]

Gil nods. "Of course," he says. In this moment, he doesn't even mind that one of them is probably for Bran Davies.

"I should probably write one myself. And get my jacket. I'll be across the hall, when you're ready." He doesn't say "in my room." It's already not his room, in his mind.

He closes the door behind him as he goes.

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne goes to the desk and writes (http://www.livejournal.com/users/avonlea_girl/2701.html) quickly, before folding up her two notes, and laying them on her desk for a moment with a sigh.

Her eyes go to Amy.

[kitchen_maid]

Amy is trying, really and truly trying, to be happy for her dearest and best of friends.

But there's no denying that this is her court smile -- it doesn't reach her eyes, and it doesn't wrinkle her nose.

"You should go," she says, softly. "Your Gilbert and your Avonlea are waiting."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne's eyes are very bright, and she takes the few steps to Amy and hugs her tightly once again.

"I will come back," she says, softly, "and soon. I promise, Amy."

A kiss to Amy's cheek and she pulls away, taking the notes, and standing for a moment at the doorway.

"Don't let anyone else move in with you," she says, with a smile that is only a bit shaky. "I'll want to have my bed here, after all."

[kitchen_maid]

"Of course," she says. "We'll be here when you get back."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Anne nods, and turns to run downstairs (http://www.livejournal.com/community/milliways_bar/9407593.html), meeting Gilbert in the hallway and taking his hand as they go down together.