When Cupid's On Vacation
Based off of the real story where the children instigated the proposal and assuming Maria did NOT run away after the ball.
Maria woke queasy and exhausted after the ball. Having gone to bed late because of the event and then tossing and turning for most of the night, she did not feel like her normal self. Of course, she mused, there's another reason… She'd tried to deny it all night, but after dream after dream brought her nothing but a pair of hauntingly deep blue eyes, Maria had no choice but to admit to herself that she might be harboring more feelings for the Captain than she had ever anticipated. The dance hadn't even been the worst of it, oh no. Embarrassing and terrifying as it was, it was a dream, a moment in time she could isolate from everything else. She wanted to fall through the floor, however, when she was invited to dinner. Dinner with the Captain and his guests was real, the fact that she and Max would be sitting next to him was real, and (as she had discovered every time she closed her eyes), the look in Georg's eyes when she accepted and retreated to her room to change was real.
She could have run. She wanted to run. A part of her knew she needed to run for her own sanity, and yet, there she was the next morning attempting to dress for the day as if nothing had changed. She had not attended dinner, though. After finally convincing herself that she needed to stay until the end of her time, she was still too scared to venture back not only into the Captain's eye-sight, but also into a world she felt she didn't belong in. Instead, she asked Frau Schmidt to give her apologies to Max and the Captain, and stayed shut up in her room with her whirling thoughts until finally falling asleep.
As she turned the door handle to start heading down to breakfast, all Maria could think of was how she was going to eat anything with the eyes from her dreams staring at her from across the table.
"He probably slept wonderfully…" she muttered to the hallway.
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On the other side of the villa, Georg von Trapp grumbled and pulled himself to a sitting position. After saying goodbye to the guests, enjoying several nightcaps with Max and Elsa, and trying to avoid his recently disturbing dreams, he had finally fallen asleep an hour ago. A part of the usually prompt Captain wanted nothing more than to stay in bed for the beginning of the day – as he knew his Baroness and chaperone would most definitely be doing – but he didn't want to leave Maria and his children waiting at breakfast, and so he forced himself to start his morning routines.
As he washed, dressed, and shaved, George couldn't help but feel that something was missing. The feeling was very familiar, he'd felt it for years after losing Agathe, but the longing was different this time. Before, the longing was excruciating. He'd lie on his bed at night and think of all the things surrounding him that reminded him of his wife, and how empty it all felt when her presence wasn't there to complete their room. This was unsettlingly different, though. For the first time in years, Georg not only felt lonely without a feminine presence in the room, he felt that it belonged there again. The oddest part was that when he closed his eyes and imagined the woman who could fix this hole, it wasn't Elsa who entered his mind. Instead, Captain von Trapp stunned himself when his happiest vision included none other than his little governess across the way.
The previous night had stirred feelings in him he'd thought were destroyed years ago. He'd been suppressing his growing attraction to Maria for weeks, thinking it was a passing fancy, but as he held her in his arms for the most glorious three minutes of his life, it hit him that his feelings went far beyond desire. Every move he made, she matched him perfectly. They fit together, not only in step, but in life. As charming and beautiful as Elsa was, and as grateful to her as he was for bringing him out of the dark, she never came close to completing him the way Agathe had; the way Maria did. Georg had never fit in amongst the stuffy aristocracy of glittering Vienna. Despite his impeccable upraising, he'd always found he was happiest away from the pressures of his family and title. That was why he'd moved to Salzburg in the first place. The von Trapp Villa was a haven encompassed in clear air, gorgeous scenery, and the freedom of space and time. Even now, though it still held painful memories, Georg still found comfort in the feeling he got whenever he looked out to the mountains from his balcony; the feeling of comfort, safety, home, and love. The same feelings he felt when he looked into his Fraulein's eyes the other night, the same feelings that brought him so close to lowering his head the slightest so their lips could meet and she could feel everything he wanted so badly to tell her.
When Frau Schmidt told him that Maria would not be attending dinner, he'd been terrified. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away. As Georg closed his bedroom door behind him, he was not at all surprised that a part of him was simply hoping the beaming smile from his dreams would still be sitting across the table this morning.
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In the next hall, all seven of Georg's children were running late. They had slept perfectly well after the exhaustion of the excitement of the party, but this morning held more important matters for them than being on time to breakfast. After seeing their father and their Fraulein dance, the suspicions of the elder ones were confirmed, and they knew something needed to be done before the Captain gave into social pressures and proposed to the Baroness. So this morning, rather than waiting patiently in the dining room, the seven conspiracy experts were sitting pensively in Brigitta and Louisa's room.
"I still don't understand what we can do…" mumbled a frustrated Friedrich.
"Well, I'm not sure either, but we have to try." Brigitta stated confindently.
"It's complicated, though. You can't just tell father that we know he's in love with Fraulein Maria, or the other way around. It just doesn't work that way." Liesl sighed. Wise beyond her ten years, Brigitta's knowledge of love was still highly influenced by the whimsical novels she read, and while her intentions were good, her sister understood much more about the intricate workings of aristocratic relationships and what the implications would be if her father and her governess did indeed marry.
"Why not? It's obvious they're in love. Maybe if they knew we knew, they wouldn't be so scared."
"That doesn't make any sense Brigitta," said Louisa knowledgably "Father doesn't need our permission to marry Baroness Schrader, why would he need our permission to marry Fraulein Maria?"
"It was just an idea!" Brigitta stated defiantly. "At least I'm trying. Do you want to go back to sneaking spiders through windows and putting glue on toothbrushes? I don't! The Baroness is a nightmare, and Maria feels…"
Liesl looked at Brigitta and over to her youngest siblings. Finally, it was Gretl who dared to say what they'd all been thinking.
"Maria feels like my mother."
Liesl looked nostalgically to the window. She wouldn't admit it out-loud, but she agreed wholeheartedly with the five-year-old. Maria would never replace the mother who'd raised her, but she couldn't deny that Maria was the closest she'd ever come to feeling like having a family again was possible.
"Look, we're already horribly late, and father's going to be boiling mad. Let's just go to breakfast and maybe we'll have better ideas after we eat."
Her siblings smiled in return and followed her down the stairs. They walked swiftly to the dining room and were about to enter when they heard two voices speaking softly through the slightly opened door. Liesl motioned for her siblings to stay quiet and peeked through the crack. Sitting awkwardly and playing with their cutlery were the two people they'd been wondering how to get alone all morning. Friedrich took the initiative to take the group to the kitchen for a small bite while Louisa stayed with Liesl and listened through the door. If they were really going to risk playing match-maker, they needed to know what they were up against.