A/N: Never done a crossover before… hope you get my "idea." ;) I wanted to write a love story for Liesl—that girl needed some love after what happened with Rolf—and the idea for the crossover may have come to me while I thought about my "abandoned" Dr. Quinn story—well, sort of—I'm still mulling it over in my brain, just need the extra hours to write that one, too. ;) So, for your information, I brought the cast from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman forward in time to the 1930s.
Chapter one and two are now beta read by LandoLady, thank you for the huge work you've done to this.
Chapter 1Liesl fretted nervously in the backseat of the car. Her mother and father sat in the front seat, looking mighty proud of the fact that their oldest daughter would start at the local college this day. She looked out of the car window and spotted a huge building between some large trees. She bit her lip nervously.
"Oh, dearest Liesl, stop worrying so much! You'll do fine and will meet many new friends, I'm sure of it." Maria's voice interrupted the young woman's thoughts. She had turned partially in her seat and looked back at her daughter and could see Liesl was a bit apprehensive about starting college. But who could blame her? They had only lived in America for nine months, and though her English had improved immensely over that time, she was still nervous about meeting new people.
"I know mother, I know. I just hope… well, you know… that I'll be able to make new friends," Liesl explained.
"Didn't the papers from school say you were to meet with a girl who will show you around campus and everything?" Maria said as she looked into the envelope she held in her hand. Pulling out a piece of paper, she continued, "Ah yes, a Colleen Cooper will meet you at the head office. I'm sure she is a nice girl… I don't think they would give out an assignment like that to someone who is grumpy and not easy to be around," she reasoned.
Georg laughed at this and said, "Your mother is right, you know, darling. Ah, here we are." He parked the car in an empty parking space and got out and moved around to open the door for his wife.
"Oh really, Georg, you don't need to do that, you know… I can… easily… well, get out on my own." Maria puffed a bit when she tried to maneuver out of the car with her huge belly in the way. He only shook his head in amusement and said to Liesl, who had stepped out of the car, "Only your mother can be this stubborn at eight months' pregnant." Liesl smiled at the sight of her parents, as the news of a new sibling arriving had been received with great joy by all her brothers and sisters.
"Thank you. You don't need to come in with me. I think I can manage on my own." She reached for the envelope in Maria's hand and then took her new schoolbag out from the back seat of the car, mentally getting herself ready to face whatever this new college life would bring her. As she looked back at her parents and saw Maria had tears brimming in her eyes, Liesl shook her head and hugged her mother close whispering, "Thank you, Mother, for everything. I'll be back before dinner, you know. I'm not going that far away." Maria nodded, but she still hadn't gotten used to the thought of their daughter now starting college.
Liesl had not wanted to go far away to college, both due to the fact that she had just recently gotten used the American way of life and the fact that she would soon be having a new baby brother or sister. She didn't want to miss out on that. So they had found a local college, and she was now a first-year pre-med student.
Georg pulled his daughter in for one last hug and whispered, "You'll do great, darling, I know. Go show them who you are. We're so proud of you." He kissed her gently on the cheek and stood back so Maria could embrace their daughter one last time. She was so overwhelmed with emotions she kept on hugging her; finally, Georg had to gently pull her away.
"Okay, we have to let her go now. We can't have her being late on her first day," he whispered with amusement in his voice. These past months had taught him that a pregnant Maria was an emotional Maria. When she heard the slight amusement in his voice, her head shot up and she narrowed her eyes at him, letting him know she did not see the humor in what he had just said.
Liesl laughed a little when she saw this, the love between her parents was obvious, and she adored them both. What trials they had had to go through, together, to be where they were now, had only made their family that much stronger. Giving them one final wave of her hand, she turned around and walked towards the main building. Almost out of earshot, she heard her mother starting to berate her father about how not funny she found his remarks just minutes ago. Liesl smiled as she looked back and saw her father attempt to help her mother into the car again. But his wife, being the stubborn person she was, tried to do it herself but in the end had to give up and reluctantly take the proffered hand of her husband.
Liesl gripped the strap of her schoolbag even tighter as she searched for a sign showing her the direction of the main office. It was an easy find, and soon she stood, still a little nervous, outside the main office. She looked around trying to find the girl who was supposed to meet her, the crowd walking by her filled with students who obviously all knew exactly where they were heading. No one took much notice of the girl standing off to the side. Liesl was starting to worry that Colleen Cooper would not show up.
"Oh, hi! You must be Liesl, right?" an auburn-haired girl asked when she slid to a halt in front of her. She had obviously been in a hurry to get there in time and continued, "I'm so sorry for being late. We, the greeting team, had to listen to our dean's final reprimands and rules for, you know, meeting and helping new students get around campus. But I'm here now." The girl smiled warmly at Liesl and then added, "I'm Colleen by the way, Colleen Cooper."
"Hi, yes, I'm Liesl. Nice to meet you." She wasn't sure what else to say and reached her hand out towards Colleen. They shook hands and smiled, looked into each other's eyes, and Liesl felt a glimmer of hope that this girl could turn out to be a new friend.
Then Colleen started to list all various rules and other things she needed to know. She tried to keep up with it all—the girl sure did speak fast. Suddenly Liesl realized she had stopped talking as Colleen looked at her with questioning eyes.
Liesl stuttered in embarrassment, "Oh, I'm sorry, I… well, I'm not sure I got everything you just said… I… well, as you may know, I don't speak English all that well yet, and uh… well, you speak so quick. Sorry." But her worries were short-lived as Colleen exclaimed, "Oh no! I'm the one who should be sorry here. I forgot. You're from… from… Europe somewhere…" She looked at a piece of paper in her hand and finished, "Austria, right?"
Liesl nodded her head and explained, "Yes, we come from Austria. Bad things happened there, half of it I'm not even sure of, but our family needed to get out of the country, or the Third Reich would have split up our family." The sadness in her voice was obvious, and Colleen felt sympathy for the girl. She had heard the news from Europe about all the bad things happening over there.
"Yes, I've heard, and I'm very sorry you had to leave your country like that—it can't have been easy. I'll try not to speed-talk, and please let me know if there's anything you don't understand." Colleen smiled encouragingly at the new girl; she seemed like a nice and genuinely sweet young woman.
Liesl thanked her and then started asking questions concerning what Colleen had talked about previously as she tried to understand the way things were done in college. Colleen made an effort to explain everything, and soon the girls also started talking about things not related to school. They had made a tour around campus, and in between need-to-know information, they had soon shared some of their private stories as well.
She was still not comfortable talking very much about their escape from Austria, but Liesl did tell about her family. And when Colleen heard she had six siblings and one more in the making, she was shocked. "Wow, how can you have privacy with that many younger kids around you? I have to fight tooth and nail to just get some peace and quiet away from my baby sister and two brothers, and one of them isn't even living at home anymore."
Liesl just laughed. "Well, I guess it's hard, but honestly I don't want it any other way." Colleen nodded as she knew the importance of family sticking together.
"I know. However much my younger sister and brothers can be annoying at times, we've been through some tough times ourselves," Colleen explained and then told Liesl her own story of how their real father had abandoned the three of them when their mother had died seven years ago. Had it not been for a caring friend of her mother, they would have been split up among different foster-care families. Now they lived with their mother's friend and her husband, and a few years later the family got a baby sister.
The girls had spent the better part of almost two hours talking and walking around campus. They were now heading in the direction of the building where Liesl would meet her new classmates— Colleen was one year ahead of her and attended her own classes. They agreed to meet for lunch at the school cafeteria later.
Liesl felt much more confident when she walked into her new class. Her meeting with Colleen had been a great first start in making new friends.
The rest of the morning went without a hitch. Liesl soon found herself among a small group of girls, all eager to hear about her life in Austria. She connected well with most of them but especially with one named Becky. At one of the breaks they talked a bit, and when Becky heard who her "meet-and-greet" friend had been, she said happily, "Oh, Liesl, that's wonderful! I've known Colleen most of my life. She lives just across the street from my house. Let's meet up with her for lunch."
They found Colleen already sitting at a table in the cafeteria near one of the large windows, and she waved her hand when she saw Liesl. Her smile turned even wider when she saw who was with her, and she jumped up and hugged Becky. They hadn't seen each other all summer due their different vacation schedules. Both girls started catching up on everything that had happened, while Liesl tried her best to follow their rushed dialogue. It appeared as if both girls had had a little summer love interest, both almost jumping up and down with glee over this. Liesl smiled ruefully at their joy. It was not as if boys didn't interest her, but this past year had not gone all that well in the area of romance. The image of Rolf flickered through her mind, and she felt a lump grow in her throat. No, she thought to herself, I don't want to think about that boy ever again. I can never forgive what he did. First he broke my heart, and then he nearly broke my family apart.
Both Becky and Colleen had stopped talking and now looked at their new friend, who seemed distracted with her brows in a slight furrow, as if she'd thought of something unpleasant. Colleen asked, "Oh, sorry, are we speaking too quickly? It's just that…" But Liesl waved her hand and proclaimed, "Oh no, it's not that. Please do catch up. From what I can understand, you both have experienced something nice." She sighed a bit to herself, still somewhat deep in thought.
"So Liesl, anyone special in your heart back in Austria?" Becky asked with a sly smile, but the smile vanished in an instant when she saw how sad and hurt Liesl looked. "Sorry about that, I… we… we don't really need to know that. Sorry, please…" Liesl just shook her head and said, "It's okay. Really… I… well, I just don't really want to talk about it right now."
Colleen placed a soothing arm around her shoulder and allowed, "When you're ready, but only if you want to." Then the girls started talking about school and all the things they had to work on.
At times Liesl let herself drift away from the conversation, not that the other two didn't try to speak slowly, but merely because she had experienced so many new things this day. Her mind was filled with new faces, new information, and now she tried to organize everything inside her head.
Suddenly her eyes caught sight of a group of girls gathered around a young man. Looking closer she noticed that the man didn't seem to really want to be there, with all that attention directed towards him. That she found odd, as she'd thought all males loved being fawned over by girls. Well, the girls did seem rather fancy and snobbish in her view; they all wore the latest in fashion. Having been brought up in an aristocratic family herself she had seen what riches could buy. Her family didn't struggle by any means here in America as her father had managed to pull out most of his fortune before the Anschluss and now worked at the Naval Academy.
The young man pushed through the group of girls, waving his hand in dismissal, showing them quite clearly he wanted to be alone. Finally they turned and walked away, all giggling like broody hens. Liesl followed the young man with her eyes. He had taken off the grey flat cap he wore and ran a hand through his semi-long dark blond hair. Then he rubbed his hand over his face and placed his cap on his head again. She had to crane her neck to keep him in view. When Colleen saw this she explained, "That would be my older brother, fighting off the endless line of giggling girls all wanting to be his next girlfriend. Can you imagine? My oaf of a brother…?" She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed the faraway look on her friend's face. Giggling to herself she winked at Becky and whispered, "Think my brother got himself another admirer."
"Uh, what do you mean, admirer? What does that word mean?" Liesl looked with confusion at the now slightly snickering girls.
"Ah, well, that means someone who really likes someone, or looks up to someone," explained Becky with a huge smile.
When Liesl heard this she shook her head vigorously and stated, "I'm not interested in any form of relationship at the moment. I… I… well, things have been hard this past year, and I don't want to be hurt again." Both girls heard the pain in her voice, and both started to express how sorry they were for being so thoughtless.
Liesl smiled in return. It seemed as if she really had struck gold in the friend department.
"Well, for your information, Matthew isn't interested in any form of relationship either. He… well, he… lost his girlfriend to scarlet fever last summer. He took a year off from school, working at some ranch out West. We only saw him at Christmas. He took it pretty hard… She was a great girl, I liked her…" Colleen explained as she felt the lump rising in her throat; it had not been easy for her family when Matthew had gone away.
When Liesl heard the sad story, she hugged Colleen and said how sorry she was for their loss. Soon after, the girls started talking about various things in an effort to change the mood in a more cheery direction. Liesl cast one last glance in the direction where Matthew had left the cafeteria. Among the crowd of students she could barely make out his grey flat cap.
It seemed she was sure to have an interesting new life here. She had just made two new friends and had a feeling the year would bring many new experiences for her.
When lunch was over, the girls got back to their classes and later met up outside the main building. They said goodbye and hugged with promises to talk again the next day. There was a short honk of a car horn, and when Liesl turned to look she saw her father standing next to the car waving at her. Maria was sitting inside; it seemed she had given up on getting out of the car altogether. Liesl smiled and waved back, explaining to her friends, "Oh, there's my mother and father, see you tomorrow."
As she walked down to her waiting parents, she turned around, gave a final wave to her two new friends, and got into the car. She greeted her parents with a happy face and on the drive home retold everything, well almost—the talk about boys was left out.
Back at the school both Colleen and Becky had looked on in awe at what they'd seen. It appeared as if their new friend had a father who worked in the navy. He had worn a naval uniform, and her mother seemed very young. Colleen leaned over to her friend and whispered, "Wow, did you see how young her mother is? How do you suppose that adds up with everything we've heard?" Becky shrugged her shoulders and said, "We'll just ask Liesl tomorrow. She seems like a nice girl, really." Colleen nodded her head in agreement and took Becky's hand and walked over to her waiting brother. Matthew would always drive them to school whenever possible, but all the way home the poor boy had to hear the girls chatter about some new friend they had met.
A/N: I'm VERY aware of the fact that this story might not end up being 100% historically and culturally correct. I found out it was rather hard work being young in the late 1930s… :/ So please bear with me on this one.
Ideas for what young people could/would do together (ex when on a date or just being with their friends) at that time, will be much appreciated.
I do hope you enjoy this. The past 2-3 weeks I've been on a roll in the writing department. (Got my "Pirate Playtime" story done in about 2 weeks.) This chapter wrote itself in a couple of days, really. :) So, I do hope I get work done on the next chapters… and hopefully on my Dr. Quinn story, too.
END rambling… please review.