A/N: I've had this story in my head for about a year, so now finally I'm writing it! Please tell me what you think!

Summary: Georg and Maria are engaged and assumed nothing could come between them…until an unexpected visitor arrives.

Back in Time

Ch. 1: The Sailor

Maria walked out onto the terrace and watched as the sun set below the lake. The sun shimmered as it hit the water making it sparkle everywhere. She smiled as she sat down and waited for her fiancée.

It had been a month since Maria and Georg talked in the Gazebo. Since then their lives had been full of happiness. As always there were occasional issues between the children that at times had to be resolved, but none of them ever had come between Maria's love of the von Trapp's. The children fights never got out of hand, they just were the normal brother and sister fights. She looked down at her ring and a sweet smile formed on her lips again as she sighed, thinking of all the wonderful moments she and Georg had shared. She couldn't wait for more wonderful moments and she was entirely excited for her wedding in two weeks.

"Lovely day out, isn't it?" his voice breaking her thoughts. Maria looked up and nodded smiling at her husband. He sat the lemonade he was carrying down and kissed her as he sat down.

"It is beautiful out, but I don't think there has been one ugly day here for a month…at least from what I've noticed," Maria told him.

"Yes my dear, with you as my sunshine I doubt I'll see a bad day again," he answered as he moved his chair closer to her and put his arm around her. "Do you want some lemonade?"

"Sure darling," she answered sweetly, and then added, "As long as it's not pink. The children told me about that." Georg laughed at her as he poured her a glace.

"No, I told the cook to make sure there was never any pink stuff in lemonade again. So how are the wedding plans?" he asked. They started talking excitedly about their wedding and didn't notice Franz come to the back door.

He cleared his throat and spoke.

"Excuse me, Captain. There is a man by the name of Patrick Loehr. He said he once toured one of your ships and met you. He heard you were in the area and wanted to meet you again."

Georg noticed Maria who after taking a deep breath had a strange look on her face. Almost confused he thought to himself. He took her hand and she smiled at him.

"Please tell him to come in Franz," Georg told him. He gazed down at, Maria. "Are you okay?" he asked her visibly concerned. She nodded her head quickly and gave him another awkward smile.

A man who was about five years older than Maria entered the terrace. He had a suit on and had dark hair with dark brown eyes. He smiled at the Captain and stepped toward him to shake his hand.

"Hello Captain, it is very nice to see you again. I toured one of your ships when I was a young man wanting to become a sailor. My name is Patrick Loehr. You may not remember me, but I decided to stop by because I was in the area. Forgive me for not sending a telegram. I wanted to tell you your stories about your fascinating trips inspired me to join the Navy."

Georg smiled remembering his last years during the Navy. Meeting new recruits was always one of his favorite things to do. They were so young, innocent and ready to learn and Georg loved that about them.

"Don't worry about it. A sailor is always welcome in my house. Please sit down. Oh this is my fiancée, Maria," he told Patrick motioning to Maria. Maria glanced up at Patrick and smiled. Patrick's eyes opened wide as she reached out to shake his hand.

"Maria?" he asked again. Maria's eyes flashed him a warning glance as he sat down at the table. He decided to be quiet.

"Yes, it is very nice to…to um see you today Mr. Loehr," she answered. Georg noticed how uncomfortable she was and put his arm around her protectively.

"Oh please call me Patrick," he told her. She nodded.

"Okay, so Patrick, what have you been doing since you finished your duty to the Navy?" she asked him trying to bring on any normal conversation she could.

"Well after one of my ships sunk and I was assumed dead I left the navy and returned home to Salzburg actually. I wanted to find my family, but they had moved to Vienna to be closer to better medical treatment for my father. So I stayed there and I well I went to school some more and decided I was bored with my life so I decided to travel…"

As Patrick continued his non detailed life story thoughts consumed Maria of her past and what it had been like. Nobody had ever really loved her, not her parents, uncles, aunt's brothers, no one except the Lord…and a man she met in the village.

She had met him when they when she was in high school and they grew to be close friends and before long they were dating. She thought their love would conquer everything. Maria was so young and in love then she didn't realize events sometimes spoil love. She didn't know about betrayal, or people that were unworthy. Being too much in love with him to see his faults she agreed to marry him.

"Maria?" he asked. She shook her head a little, trying to let her thoughts leave her. 'It couldn't be him.' She reasoned. Even if the name is the same it doesn't mean that it is really Patrick. She glanced at him again waiting for him to continue.

"I'm sorry you just look so much like Maria Rainer. I've been searching for her for years. Did you know her by any chance?" Maria looked at him stunned and glanced over at Georg who looked confused.

"I am Maria Rainer, Patrick," Maria answered quietly.

"So you two know each other then?" Georg said absently. "Well isn't that ironic."

"Yes, yes it is, isn't it?" Maria managed as she glanced toward her dress. Patrick jumped up and tried to give Maria a hug. He didn't notice her fear or the way she only slightly returned the hug. Instead he started speaking loudly.

"Oh, Maria! I have been looking for you ever since I came back! I couldn't find you anywhere. People told me you had ran away to another college. Then someone told me you ran of to the Abby, but I told them it couldn't be you because you were an atheist! Oh I am so happy I finally found you! Do you still have the ring? I guess it must be fate giving us a second chance!"

Maria's face flushed as she saw Georg's ever increasing cold stares. He started to rub his head and sit up straighter, which Maria took as a sign of jealousy coming over him.

"What ring?" he asked her quietly. She looked at her fiancée's pained face and then stood up to face Patrick.

"Patrick, it's over between us. We both know what happened and I'm sorry it did, but that's no longer part of my life. My life is here now, with Georg," she told him as passionately as she could to make her fiancée not feel jealous. From the look in his eyes though she could see she had a lot of explaining to do before his jealousy vanished.

"No it isn't, Maria. Remember what we promised each other before I left. If we ever met again we would get married," Patrick told her honestly as he came toward her to take her hand. "I missed you."

Maria gasped at his straight forwardness. How could he touch her and say those words right in front of Georg? It seemed very rude to her, but she couldn't help being honest as well.

"I did too," Maria answered, "But now…"

"Maria what is going on?" Georg interrupted harshly. Maria hadn't heard that tone in a long time. Ever since they had the argument at the lake. Suddenly, she didn't feel like his equal, but more of a child explaining something to her father.

"Patrick and I were best friends during high school. We fell in love and decided to get married when he came back from his assignment. We were engaged when he left. He never came back," Maria answered with a tone that was sad and in some ways mad.

"You were engaged and you never told me?" Georg asked, stunned.

"Georg, it never really came up. Most of the time we've just been…" she trailed off as she saw Patrick's eyes. "Can we discuss this later?" she asked him. He didn't acknowledge her, so she turned to Patrick. "Look, I'm sorry Patrick. You should be going now…"

"Please can I see you again, Maria? We can go to lunch or something," he told her. Maria glanced at Georg who was seemed to not be paying attention to her.

"Well…I'm sorry, but I can't. You see I'm engaged now and I don't want anything to come between…"

"Just go, Maria," Georg told her stiffly.

"Darling, I can tell you're not comfortable with…"

"I said go…I'm fine," he grumbled. Maria sighed and motioned for Patrick to follow her.

"So then at twelve tomorrow?" Patrick asked as he reached the door.

"Sounds good," Maria stammered. "Goodbye, Patrick."

"Bye, Maria," he echoed as he reached for her hand to kiss it.