Hello everybody. This is my first "real" fanfiction and I hope you all enjoy reading it. Thanks to Cass for BETAing. Please R & R :)
A/N: While I have done alot of research and do intend to do more as I get deeper into the story, the situation being dealt with is most definetely not black and white. People deal with it in many different ways and therefore I am apprehensive as I do not want to offend anyone. Also I am aware that the trauma may be a sensitive issue to readers and I am sorry in advance if it is difficult to read because of personal reasons and if I get it totally wrong.
A/N,2: The story starts of as Georg's POV but will eventually move to Maria's. The sections in italics are flashbacks and there are quite alot, especially in the first chapters. It's sort of necessary to set the scene and show characters' thoughts and feelings.
Maria walked into the bedroom from the adjoining bathroom, attempting to tie the sash of her dress behind her. She raised her eyebrow at the sight of her husband humming absentmindedly in front of the mirror while trying to tie his bow. She walked over to him and pried his fingers from the fabric. "You know you can't do this properly yourself, why couldn't you wait? I've been ready and have visited the bathroom numerous times in the past hour between glasses of water and waiting for you."
Georg, while still occupied with his reflection, made a noncommittal noise. "Is it really such a crime to look good for a social event?"
Twisting the bowtie into a neat knot, she shook her head. "I really don't see the need for all the fuss. You're always the adequate looking gentleman, my dear Captain."
Georg feigned mortification. "Maria! I don't know if you realize this or not, but ever since I married you, simply dressing up has not been quite enough to look even near presentable next to you."
Maria reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips before she turned to the doorway. "You do realise that while I am looking increasingly more like a whale these days, I still manage to fully get ready in the time that it takes you to get out of the shower."
Swiftly sweeping up his jacket, Georg followed his wife's lead. "Oh you're just being paranoid Maria; you're just as stunning as always. You don't resemble a whale in slightest. I was thinking more along the lines of the most beautiful, breath-taking, evocative woman I have ever laid my eyes on—I'm a sorry sight in comparison to you. For the love of God, you're carrying our child!"
Maria caught her husband's eye and raised her eyebrow as he caught her arm and escorted her down the stairway. A sweet smile formed across her face and her cheeks blushed ever so slightly from the flattery of the compliment. Georg stopped only to kiss her forehead gently as they headed out of the front door arm-in-arm and began their short walk to the party that was awaiting them a few doors down the road.
However, they had barely reached the front gates when, not immensely surprising to Maria, Georg discovered that he had forgotten something in his unusual frenzy to dress properly for the occasion.
"You really are impossible," Maria commented dryly although she couldn't help the smile that was beginning to appear on her face as she disapprovingly shook her head.
He raised one eyebrow slightly. "I'll try to be quick my dear but one can never grace a party empty handed now, can they?"
She gave a tolerant sigh. "Seemingly not. Just be quick, we're late enough as it is."
Georg smiled to himself as he watched his wife turn around and bend down to study the flowers that had appeared in the cracks in the road. He hastened up the driveway, unlocked the front door and strode into the house, up the stairs and to his room where the bottles of wine lay on the bed. Scrambling them into a bag, he managed to be outside againwithin minutes.
Whistling to himself, Georg shut the door behind him and checked that it was locked. He cradled the bottles carefully in the crook of his arm and then looked ahead to where Maria had been standing previously. What he saw made his stomach drop cold and the bottles in his arms, now forgotten, smashed to the ground.
Maria was lying in a crumpled heap on the pavement, covered in blood, her skin chalk white. Georg felt a cold sweat break out all over his body at the sight. Heran to her and grabbed her wrist to feel for a pulse, shouting her name at the same time. He detected a slight pulse, but there was no response to his calling.
In a frenzy of fear and uncertainty, he scooped her up into his arms, her weight like a rock, and staggered for the house, shouting for Franz to call a doctor and open the damn door.
Georg paced up and down the white corridors restlessly, waiting, watching, and listening. His legs seemed to have a mind of their own: he would force himself to sit down and settle only to find that he would spring to his feet only moments later. It was dreadfully disorientating to be pacing in such an aimless fashion.
"My beloved Maria, it is inevitable that you were the one that God chose for me to be my partner, the person who shall be one flesh with me, and the one whom I shall call my one and only love for as long as I live. You are, to me, beautiful: beautiful, not just in face and body, but in spirit. You are a wonder to behold, I will forever be truly grateful to the Lord that He has chosen to give you to me."
"I, Maria Kutschera take you, Georg von Trapp to be my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live."
Maria smiled gently as she witnessed the look of pure, unadulterated love in the gaze of the man standing opposite to her.
"Do you, Georg von Trapp take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife?"
"I do."
"And do you, Maria Kutschera, take this man as your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I do," she barely whispered, hardly able to get the words to escape her lips as her eyes swelled up with tears of joy and her throat tightened.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
He gently lifted the veil over her head and stretched out his hand to caress her cheek softly. A smile graced her lips as he gently pulled her chin towards him; their lips touched together ever-so slightly in a sweet kiss; a kiss to symbolise the start of their new life together as husband and wife, lovers, confidants and best friends.
Georg was finding that he, the often composed Baron von Trapp, was in fact finding it extremely hard to keep his raging emotions under control. Thought after thought racing through his mind and everything around him turning into a blur, he was completely and utterly oblivious to his surroundings. Exhausted and drained emotionally and physically, he buried his face in his hands and let go of the tight rein he held on his emotions.
Georg glanced up when he heard the bedroom door click open and then a few seconds later, shut. It was Maria, and she looked as if she was walking on air, yet treading on ice at the same time – something was on her mind. She could barely contain herself, he could tell. "Cat got your tongue, love? You're usually chattering a million miles an hour. Is there something wrong?" he asked playfully, standing up to join her.
Maria bit down on her lip anxiously wondering about the best way to go about the situation at hand. She was surprised that Georg had not recognised the signs by now. But then again, what man, even one with seven children, could be so in tune with the female mind and body?
"It involves you," she murmured.
Georg walked closer to her before touching her nose with the tip of his finger and laughed. "I should certainly hope so!"
But Maria quickly replaced her smile with a cutting glare. "Georg, if you're going to be cynical, this can wait till a later date, when you're better behaved."
Georg winced mockingly. "That was a low blow, Fräulein."
"Perhaps so. But you won't get anymore children acting like that." She folded her arms and glowered at him.
Georg was about to reply with a wit that he was rather proud of, but her words hit him and he gaped at Maria. "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?"
Her glower melted into a warm smile as she stepped even closer and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. "Yes, I should think you did. I hope you did."
The tears were flowing freely now. He didn't care that people were passing by or that he might have been in their way. Was he, Georg von Trapp, always to be doomed to lose the one that he loved? It just didn't seem fair that he had to go through that, again.
No, he had to stay positive. There was no indication that any injuries would have seriously harmed his wife at all, no there wasn't. But as the horrifying image of his beloved covered in blood, her face chalk white and pale, her body lying still on the road, entered his mind once again; Georg von Trapp couldn't help but lose what little hope he had.
Having his Maria lay on his chest and his fingers run
"Do you think I'll be a good mother?" Maria whispered softly, breaking the long silence.
"Oh I don't know, just adequate I suppose," he said teasingly.
Maria slapped him playfully. "No, I'm serious Georg. I'm worried; afraid."
His wife's insecurities had become much more frequently apparent in the past weeks. Although Maria was usually confident and very sure of herself, it seemed that the thought of becoming a mother and the fear of not living up to her own high expectations were haunting her constantly. Georg kissed her forehead firmly.
"Oh don't be, my dear.I have every confidence in you—you're the best mother that my children could ever ask for; it was you that put this family back together, and it's you that continues to hold it in one piece. I assure you, Maria: any child blessed enough to call you his mother is the most blessed child on the face of the earth—just as I am blessed to call you my wife."
"You know that I do not find flattery amusing, Georg! Seriously... I know that I already have seven wonderful children." She paused to look up at him. "But it's not the same – Gretl was five when I met her. I don't know how to feed, bathe, entertain a tiny infant for heaven's sake; doing all the things that mothers do. It's just... well I've never – "
He interrupted her abruptly. "Maria, I don't want to hear any of this. I've never met anyone that was more fitting to be a wonderful mother than you. It doesn't matter in the slightest that you've never done it before, you forget, it's all in here." He placed a hand over her heart and she smiled recognising his true sincerity. "And besides, remember that you have an adoring husband that worships the ground you walk on, my darling. I'm sure he would be very willing to help you with anything." He kissed her on the forehead again.
Maria, lost in thought, regarded her husband's words with a half smile and ran her fingers through her rumpled, short hair. "Thank you," she whispered softly and relaxed into her husband's arms once more.
"You're welcome, always welcome, my love."
"Please don't take her away from me, Lord. Don't do this to me again, I beg of you; I couldn't handle it this time." Georg's hand were clasped together, his head bowed down in prayer, hoping to find some sort of consolation in his actions.
Renovating was an entirely new experience for the majority of the von Trapp children and a very exciting one for them indeed. Brigitta, followed by Marta
"Why yellow, father?" Marta inquired quizzically.
"It's a neutral colour, darling," Georg replied, although somewhat distracted. However with the continued presence of his second-youngest daughter's confused expression, he couldn't help but laugh.
Kurt was the first to butt in, "It's because we don't know if the baby is a boy or girl yet, silly."
A sigh that escaped her lips and a tiny "oh" were the extent of Marta's realisation. It caused her father to once again stifle a chuckle.
A sound was heard from the doorway and Georg stretched to see Maria leaning on the frame, a soft smile on her face. "I was getting lonely by myself downstairs," she explained. A small cough escaped her throat at the intensity of the paint fumes. "Oh my…"
"Maria, are you sure you should be up here in your condition?"
"Georg! How many times must I tell you that I don't have a condition?" She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm pregnant, not sick."
"Yes maybe so, but these fumes cannot possibly be good for our healthy little bundle of joy growing inside of your tummy now can they?" He raised his eyebrow and eyed Maria fully. "How are you feeling now anyway?" he asked, concerned, as he stepped off the ladder to join her.
"Better, just slightly. It seems that this healthy little bundle of joy quite enjoys making me throw up my breakfast. I, for one, most definitely do not!"
"Comes with the job description I'm afraid. Unfortunate, but it'll all be worth it in the end."
"Well we'll see," she joked before reaching up to peck her husband lightly on the lips. Georg broke their embrace and turned around to the children, clasping his hands together. "Well, who fancies keeping your mother company downstairs and making sure she doesn't set foot anywhere near here for the rest of the morning?"
"Ehem… Baron von Trapp?"
Georg instantaneously shook himself out of his deep reverie. "Oh doctor, finally. How is she? Is there any news?"
"Well not everything is clear yet, Baron. But for the time being however, your wife is going to be fine, given time."
It was only now that he began to breathe properly again – it seemed as if he'd been holding his breath ever since the accident. He placed a hand over his racing heart. "You couldn't possibly know how relieved I am, doctor."
"Yes, she is expected to make a full recovery, good news indeed. But as hard as this is, I must break it to you…" The doctor's gaze veered downwards and Georg had a sudden stroke of heart breaking realisation.
"The baby?" he speculated in a whisper.
Georg didn't need the medical conformation. He immediately felt his heart sink parallel with his body as he as he staggered and nearly lost his footing. Somehow he managed to fall into a chair, and this time he stayed there, his hands covering his mouth, choking back irrepressible sobs
So that's the first chapter. I hope you were able to keep up with all the time changes. Please R & R :D