A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! It was very encouraging and helpful, and as this is only my second fic I need all the encouragement and help I can get!

Yeah, I got Cuppy from The Parent Trap...cheesy, I know!

I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review it!!

Disclaimer: I have £10 to my name...if I owned The Sound of Music, it would be a lot more!

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Maria stood on the edge of a very high cliff, an old, rickety bridge in front of her.

On the other side of the bridge stood eight people, calling for her.

She stepped onto the bridge, and walked steadily. She kept her eyes locked onto the man on the opposite side's, willing herself not to look down.

She heard a small child cry behind her, and turned round quickly. The force caused the bridge to weaken.

Maria saw Anna crying, holding her arms out in front of her, desperate for her mother to comfort her. Maria began to walk back to the place she had started from, to do as her child wished. But the bridge could take no more. The wooden planks under her feet started to snap, creating a chain reaction.

She turned back towards the larger group of people. They were still willing her across. Only the children's father stood silent, a pained look on his face. He knew what was about to happen, just as Maria did.

She couldn't hold onto the straggly pieces of rope any longer, it was cutting into her hands. She took a deep breath, and let go.

She was falling. Down, down, down. This is it, she thought, the end. Until a strong pair of arms caught her. But it didn't feel like they'd caught her. It felt like they were scooping her up. Her mind tried to make sense of the situation, but it couldn't, it became harder for Maria to think. She struggled with her disappearing thoughts, until she could struggle no more.

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Maria woke up to find herself in an unfamiliar place. Her head was still foggy, and her vision blurred but Maria could just make out the rows of beds either side of her.

She brought up a shaky hand to rub her head and tried to remember the events that had lead up to her being here.

She remembered a cliff and a bridge. Where they real? Did that happen? She could see Anna, holding her arms out.

Anna! Cuppy, America, the ship, hitting her head! It all came back to her in a rush. Her eyes focused and her head cleared. She looked around, desperate to make out her surroundings.

The warm feeling, which had suddenly come over her, disappeared. Where was Anna? She couldn't hear her crying, she couldn't see her anywhere.

"Anna?" Maria tried to shout, but only a small croak came from her mouth. "Anna?" She tried again, this time it was more understandable. She lifted the covers from her legs, swung out of bed and stood up. Maria ignored the light-headed feeling which came over her. "Anna!" she cried again, this time it came out as intended.

A woman rushed over to Maria, and started to say things she couldn't understand. The woman ushered Maria back into bed, but Maria tried to protest. "Anna!" she cried, "I've lost my little girl! She was with me!" The woman smiled at her, but said nothing. She obviously didn't understand Maria.

The man in the next bed said something to the woman.

The women suddenly looked as if she understood Maria now, and not as if she were some raging mad-woman. The woman asked Maria something, but Maria looked blank. All she had understood was 'Anna'.

The man in the bed turned to Maria, "You daughter. She's called Anna, right?" Maria nodded, still quite confused. "What does she look like? How old is she?" he asked, apparently relaying the questions the woman had asked him.

"She's three. She has blonde hair, just past her shoulders. And really blue eyes. I can't remember what dress she has on though!" Maria's eyes started to well up. The woman put her arm around Maria while the man relayed the information. The woman took her arm from round Maria's shoulders, and went to find Anna. "What did she say?" Maria sniffed, tearfully.

"She's in the nursery. Apparently everyone was amazed by how blue her eyes were."

Maria chuckled. "I can imagine."

"I'm Joseph, by the way."

"Maria." she sighed, slightly reassured by the apparent sighting of her daughter.

Joseph was younger than Maria, or at least he looked it. Maria guessed he was around 26, but she'd never been good at guessing people's ages. That's why she'd asked the children for theirs on her first day. He had dark brown hair, which sat messily on the top of his head and dark brown eyes to match. Maria guessed he was tall, at least as tall as the Captain, if not taller, but as he was laid in his hospital bed, she couldn't really tell.

"Where are we?" she asked,

"A hospital. I'm not sure what it's called."

"Hospital? How did I get here?" Maria confusion returned.

"You were on the ship from England, weren't you? Someone will have found you. I heard them talking, you bumped your head pretty hard. You've been unconscious for two days."

"Two days?! Who's been looking after Anna? Where are Georg and the children?" She began to panic.

"Whoa! If Anna's in the nursery they will be looking after her! And I don't know who the others are, so I can't answer you."

Maria was getting out of bed again.

"Where are you going now?"

"I've got to find them!"

"You did bump your head hard, didn't you? Just get back in bed! The nurse will bring Anna to you!"

Maria was, once again, about to protest, but before she could she was interrupted by the nurse returning. With Anna in her arms.

Maria took Anna and squeezed her tight. "Ouch!" Anna complained.

"Sorry, darling! I was so worried about you!" Maria grinned at her daughter.

"Cuppy wants hug too!" Anna thrust Cuppy into her mothers face.

"You got him back then?" Anna nodded, triumphantly. Maria obeyed and hugged the stuffed rabbit.

The nurse was joined at the end of Maria's bed by a doctor. He said something in English and Joseph, apparently, told the doctor that Maria couldn't speak English.

"Ah, ok." the doctor said, in German this time. "Well...Maria, is it? We haven't had a name for you these past two days. Well, Maria," he continued, after receiving confirmation that Maria was her name, "Seen as you are up and well, I see no reason why you can't be on your way."

Maria smiled, "Thank you so much! And can you tell the nurse thank you for finding Anna? I was taught a little English but it seems to have fallen out of my head!" The doctor laughed and passed Maria's gratitude to the nurse, who, in turn, smiled and nodded to Maria.

--

When everything had been sorted and Maria and Anna were ready to leave, she went to say goodbye to Joseph.

She found him, stood at the side of his bed, dressed and also ready to leave. He saw Maria approach and smiled. "I'm off home too!"

"Good! I'm happy for you!" Maria told him, "I just wanted to say thank you for everything."

"Thank you?" he looked puzzled, "What have I done?"

"Well, you helped to find Anna! You were the translator!"

"I suppose. Where are you going to go?"

"Well, Georg, that's my husband, wrote an address down that we were to go too if we got lost."

"What's the address? I might know it." Joseph asked, helpfully.

"It is..." The colour in Maria's face suddenly drained. "It's in the suitcase. Was I brought in with a suitcase?" she asked Joseph, maybe a little too viciously.

"No. Just you and Anna. And the rabbit obviously." Maria thought she was about to faint. She'd only ever done so once before, when she was pregnant with Anna, and did not wish to repeat the experience. Maria sat down on the chair beside Joseph's bed.

"Do you want me to call the doctor? You don't look well." Joseph observed.

"I...I...I've lost it. The address was in the suitcase. Georg wrote it down because I couldn't remember it. I have nowhere to go. What about Anna? What do we do?" Tears once again formed in Maria's eyes. She took deep, shaky breaths.

"Weeeellll," Joseph started, "I know someone who has somewhere you could stay."

Maria looked up hopefully, she gestured for him to carry on.

"Well, she moved here from Germany, two years ago. She owns a little dressmakers shop. She has an apartment above it, to rent. But the only thing is, the apartment comes with a job. In the dressmakers."

Maria grinned, "That would be perfect. I don't have any money though. I mean to pay for it."

"We'll talk to her. Let's go now! She might let you pay for it when you have the money."

"Ok." Maria agreed, "Then I can start looking for Georg and the children. I hope they're ok!"

"They will be." reassured Joseph, "Don't worry."

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Yeah! Another chapter down...I'm not sure how many to go! Please review so I know what you think!