Road to Avonlea: A new beginning

"I'll always come find you.."

The snow was coming down hard blanketing the town of Avonlea in a snow white sheet. Janet King was working hard in the small kitchen at King farm preparing all the Christmas goodies for the traditional King Christmas party. Alec came in with an armload of wood and shuddered off the snow, "Oh it's getting colder out there by the minute!" He exclaimed as he dumped the wood into the box by the stove. He worried about his children, Felix who was still at work at the white sands and Felicity was out still at the store.  The wind came howling through the door and the window and Alec got up to board it up. Cecily came in and said "Mother, father, is the storm going to get worse?" Janet chuckled "oh I don't know dear, possibly. Let's just hope it doesn't start until your brother and sister get home. " She looked out the window and silently prayed that the children would make it home safely.

Felicity King waited impatiently at the store. Felix was supposed to pick her up on his way home from work, but an hour had past since he had gotten off work and still there was no sign of him. So Felicity decided  to trudge out into the snow on her own, it wasn't that bad yet and King farm wasn't too far from town. So she bundled up and set out on her own towards home.

If truth be told, Felix had forgotten about Felicity. He instead had taken a detour to the Pettibone house to call on Izzy. As they finished their tea Felix jumped up and said "Oh no! I forgot to get Felicity at the store!" He set out towards the store and found out that Felicity had left an hour ago. Assuming that Gus had picked her up he turned towards home.

Felicity stumbled in the snow, surely the house wasn't much farther now. She stopped and looked around and didn't recognize where she was. She turned towards the way she thought was home and began to walk, the wind and snow blowing her like a feather. 

The house was warm and cozy as Felix trudged through the door. Gus Pike had come to call, being lost in the snow and wanting to wait out the storm. "Hello dear." Janet called as Felix came through the door. They didn't realize that Felicity wasn't with him. Until it was dark outside and they were getting worried. Alec said "Felix, didn't Felicity come with you?" "uh no, I thought Gus had picked her up, she wasn't at the store when I went to get her, granted I was a little late." At this Gus jumped up and grabbed his coat. "I gotta find her, she might be lost." Felix grabbed a lantern and followed Gus out the door as Alec and Janet sat worriedly in the parlor.

"Felicity! Felicity!" Gus called over and over again, he was starting to get worried, they'd gone as far as the school and saw no sign of Felicity. "Where do think she went?" Felix asked. Just then they came across what they thought was a boulder at the bottom of a tree near the blacksmith barn. Gus gasped in horror when he got closer and realized it was Felicity, snowflakes covering her eyes and lacing her hair. He knelt down and checked for a pulse and finding a faint pulse he let out a sigh of relief. But she was cold and unconscious and her lips were blue. "Stay with me Felicity, we'll getcha home but you gotta stay with me." He picked her up bride style and was concerned when her head flopped limply over his arms. He held her close to keep her warm and he and Felix trudged back through the snow.  "It's been an hour, I'm starting to get really worried." Janet said as Alec paced the floor again. He was in a puzzle over what to do, his daughter hadn't made it home and now Gus Pike was lost too. Should he send out a search party? Just then Gus and Felix came bursting through the door. "Mr. King!" Gus called out . "Oh my Lord! Felicity!" Janet cried when she saw her limp daughter in Gus' arms "Oh my goodness, is she alive?" Gus laid Felicity down on the table that Janet had just taken the tablecloth off of and said "Just barely, she's froze to the skin." He checked her pulse again and said "no, no, no, I can't find a pulse!" Janet melted and Alec ran to the phone to call the doctor. Meanwhile, Gus, knowing it was scandalous, unbuttoned Felicity's blouse and reached behind her to loosen the corset ties before he started chest compressions. Two tears escaped their hold and ran down his cheeks as he pumped her chest and whispered "Don't leave me Felicity!" As he gave her two breaths, Alec came back in and said "The doctor's on his way." He went to Janet's side and watched as Gus compressed Felicity's chest again. Normally he would have throttled Gus for exposing Felicity, why no gentleman would ever do that, but seeing as how Gus was trying to save his daughter's life he was willing to overlook it. Gus gave her two more breaths, but she still wasn't breathing. Now, Alec could see Gus starting to panic. There were tears flooding his eyes as he said "come on felicity, ya gotta breath fer me, come on Felicity!" Alec went to Gus' side as Gus collapsed on Felicity and wept saying through sobs "Don't leave me!" The doctor came through and seeing a distraught Alec and a weeping Gus, he quickly went to examine Felicity, having Alec take her to her room and everyone to wait in the parlor.

It had been an hour since they brought Felicity home and now Gus' tears were subsiding, but he fidgeted anxiously in his seat. Hetty poured everyone another cup of tea and then the doctor came downstairs. Everyone stood up as the doctor put his coat on "well, we got her breathing again," (To which everyone breathed a sigh of relief) "but she's still unconscious. It seems like she hit her head when she collapsed and there's some swelling on her brain. When or if she ever wakes up, it'll be a miracle." At this Gus ran upstairs and into Felicity's room. There she lay in her bed, quilt pulled up to her waist, one hand on her stomach, the other next to her. She was pale and breathing shallowly, her lips were slowly regaining color. Gus poked the fire in her fireplace, and then sat down in the chair next to her bed, taking one hand in his. "Felicity, I know you're not feelin' the best right now and I wouldn't ask ya this if I didn't care, but please don't stop fightin'. I need you, don't leave me here in Avonlea by myself." He kissed her cold clammy fingers and once again his tears flowed as the doctors words rang in his ears "When and if she ever wakes up.."

It had been nearly a month since Gus found Felicity frozen in the snow, and since then he swore he'd never leave her side. For the first week he sat next to her bed,  not eating, not sleeping, just sitting and waiting. That's when Alec had told him that he would be of no use to Felicity if he didn't take care of himself. So Gus set up a cot next to Felicity's bed and never left her room. The second week, Hetty had convinced Gus to back to work, to which he put up a protest, but finally relented when Hetty agreed that he should save up his money to send Felicity to a specialist in Halifax.   Week three, when Felicity still hadn't moved or showed any signs that she would wake Alec suggested they make preparations to have Felicity move to a facility where she would have a nurse and twenty-four seven care until she passed, but Gus was opposed to the idea and said he would rather marry her while she still at least had a heartbeat and spend the rest of their lives being her nurse than to never have married his soulmate and spend the rest of his life regretting it. And so week four rolled around and soon Christmas would be right around corner. But of course no one really felt thankful or merry, infact there were dozens of mixed emotions and feelings.  Then one day after a long hard day at work, Gus came home and went to Felicity's room. First thing he did was his usual routine; he kissed her forehead, then her eyes and then her lips and said "How was my girl today? I missed you." Then he hung up his coat and scarf and put another log in her fireplace. Then he brushed her hair and put a warm quilt up over her before taking his place on his cot next to her bed. On this particular day, he grabbed his fiddle to clean it up and decided to play a quiet song. So he picked up his bow and began to play "She's like the sunshine on the lee shore." All of a sudden, he looked over and saw Felicity start to shift slightly, so kept on playing. Then she moved her arm and started to move her head. Gus stopped and rushed to her side, taking her hand. "Felicity? Sweetheart?" She lied still and Gus' heart sank again, then he sat on the bed next to her, sliding in behind her shoulders so she was laying against his chest. "Felicity, it's time to wake up. We got lots o' chores to do. Come on Felicity, show me yer pretty eyes." At that, her eyes fluttered open and she looked around, confused. Gus smiled and sighed in relief. Felicity managed to croak out "Gus? what happened?" He rubbed her hands and kissed her as he called for the others to come upstairs because Felicity had indeed awakened. He got up and stood beside the bed as the others came rushing in. Janet kissed her daughter over and over again and Alec hugged her tightly. Felicity looked up at Gus and said " Gus, you came for me? You didn't have to..Felix was supposed..you found me?" Gus said "You're my world Felicity, losing you is not an option fer me. I'll always come find you. I love you." Felicity smiled. Now she was sure of her feelings, she was sure that Gus was the one she would spend the rest of her life with and she was okay with that..