Let Me In ( Anne with an E fanfic)

Chapter 18

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6RdHb75TveUKJDQ9K7rc5O?si=JycruVfqT2WxVXoXIyVZiA

"So, where do you want this?" Gilbert asked the next day. The plants had all waited through the night next to the door, invading the whole space with their greenness and freshness, and now he was helping Anne reorganize his whole place.

He didn't seem to have much say in the matter. And he didn't care in the very least, to be honest. Watching his apartment transform from the place it had been, with his memories scattered all over and Mary's efforts to make it comfortable, to a shared home with her (even if she was still insisting it was not the case) was filling his heart. Anne looked radiant. Even if she went to a flat of her own, or if she returned to PEI, she would do so knowing Gilbert's place had at least a live plant to brighten the space. And she could always give him instructions and text him insistently about them.

"Don't refer to Gertrude that way," she scolded, receiving the pot of his hands and going to the table next to the window. "There she looks perfect, don't you think?"

"Beautiful," he said, not even knowing if he was referring to the plant or to Anne. She smiled. "So... Raymond?" he hoped he remembered the cactus name correctly.

"To the windowsill of the kitchen," Anne instructed. She really had a plan for every single one of the plants, which surprised Gilbert.

"You have spent way too much time locked here. I hadn't even noticed there was space in the windowsill to put anything," he commented. She laughed.

"Well, almost the whole day for... Three and a half months?" she said. "I think we're finished. Only Robert left. He will be by the bookcase, should we carry it together? Looks heavy," she commented, referring to the huge monstera. He shook his head.

"No way you're helping lift that, I'll take it. Just tell me where," he said, walking to the pot. She walked over and signalled a spot and he took the plant as she tried not to look at his forearms. She nodded, looking around, happy with the results. He went to the sofa and sat, and she followed him, sitting with her head on his shoulder. "So, any more plans for today?" he asked, as he adjusted his position so he could hug her and his arm wasn't completely crushed.

"Not really... Maybe we can go for a walk at some point?" she proposed, enjoying just being close to him. She could stay like this forever. He nodded. "What are your hours again, this week?"

"Evenings, with a couple of days of morning and then evening. I should be back around one in the morning," she groaned. "I'm sorry, Anne. I know shift work is tiresome, but I could look for a way to end it if it really bothers you. It's just the way I've worked for the past few years because I lived alone, but I'm now in a place where I could ask for a fix schedule," she made some other noise. "But hey, it's not like you have to wait for me or anything. You just go about your day."

"It's fine. It's really not my place to complain," she said, but he could feel she was unhappy. Maybe he could really speak in the hospital, as Fred had suggested. They would probably agree. "I'll try to wait for you."

"I'd rather you kept with your normal sleep hours. You've been sleeping well and considering everything, that's a win. I wouldn't mess with it," he objected. Anne looked at him, unhappy. He sighed. She hadn't had any more nightmares lately and he wanted to keep it that way. Disrupting her sleeping patterns only augmented the chance of bad dreams.

"Ok...," she finally said, still not convinced. It's not like she was having dreamless nights, just manageable nightmares that didn't warrant a trip to the kitchen and then didn't wake him up. They stood like that for a while, in silence, just listening to the playlist they had been putting together the day before, Natalia Lafourcade singing Para qué sufrir in the background. Gilbert caressing her arm, Anne reading the book she had stretched to reach.