Maria awoke with a start as she envisioned the last time she had seen her husband. It had been a tumultuous past couple of months. She had considered herself to be the luckiest woman alive when Georg had confessed his love to her and told her he desperately wanted to marry her. Then they spent a glorious six weeks honeymooning in Paris where she got to know the man she loved so dearly inside and out. Yet, when news of the Anschluss reached them, they had rushed back to Austria to be with their children. And even after the news of Georg's forced commission into the naval forces of the Third Reich, Maria knew the family would be as strong as ever and be together through anything.

But then that fateful night in the abbey happened...

It was as vivid as ever to her. The Nazis closed in on her and the children. Georg commanded them to run for safety, knowing they wouldn't be pursued if he was to cooperate. But out of the corner of her eye as she ran down the steps, Maria saw her husband racing to keep up firing shots at the soldiers. For a moment it looked like they would be all right and come out of it alive and together, but then everything went black, and when Maria woke up Georg was nowhere to be found and she was all alone...except for one of her children: Kurt.

He was holding her in his lap cradling her. And then she remembered - as she rounded the corner a pistol came into view and crashed into the side of her head. She landed with a thud on the ground, barely able to see six figures ahead of her climbing into the car - six out of the seven of her children. Just about to fade into an unconscious slumber, gunshots grew nearer and nearer, but then all she saw was black.

Were the others safe? Did Georg get out alive or did the Nazis have him?

All she knew was that she was without her family. It was just she and Kurt, and she had absolutely no clue how to proceed with anything...

Snapping back to reality, Maria sat up and stretched. It was three months to the day since the Von Trapp family had been torn apart. It was the third week in January and a fresh blanket of snow had fallen overnight. She couldn't believe how the weeks had flown by. After regaining consciousness in the abbey, Kurt had helped her cautiously through the halls till they were graciously welcomed by the Mother Abbess. Not entirely remembering the events of the night, Kurt filled the Reverend Mother in on how he and Maria got separated and had no idea where their family or the Nazis were. She replied that the caretaker's car was gone, and therefore assumed the entire family had made it to safety.

Maria and Kurt were welcomed to stay within the confines of the abbey as long as they wanted, but the Mother Abbess suggested moving along quickly. They had stayed there exactly two weeks before they realized it was safe to move on. For four days they traveled by foot, car, and train until they crossed the border into Switzerland. They came upon a small town called Davos and began to search for a place to stay. However, having no money or possessions, their options soon became very bleak, until they came to an inn where they negotiated to work for free in exchange for a single room above the pub. Maria was to wait tables and clean the rooms for new guests, while Kurt was required to help out in the kitchen and do any sort of odd jobs that were needed.

Realizing they would be late for morning chores, Maria turned to her side and tried to rouse Kurt from the double bed they shared. Their room was decently sized, and contained a bed, set of drawers, a small table and chair, and a sink. However, the greatest feature was the window seat and picture window which overlooked the main street on which the inn was located.

Trying a second time Maria resorted to tickling Kurt and blowing raspberries on his cheeks.

"All right! All right - I'm awake! You can cut it out now."

"Up and at 'em sleepy head. Time to get up and get to work." And so began the morning ritual that Maria and Kurt had gotten down so well. Every day she would get up early pondering how they got to where they were and sit for a few moments before waking her son. When they were both finally up and dressed they would go downstairs together to begin their day, which started promptly at 6:30 every morning.

As they descended the last stair to the dining room, they were greeted by the owners of the inn, Anita and Klaus. The couple was a husband and wife pair who owned and maintained the property, both being in their late forties. Never having any children of their own, they were more than happy to allow Maria and Kurt to stay with them, taking them under their wing. It was apparent they needed help and nourishment, and Anita and Klaus were ecstatic to have some help around the holidays and solely for the company.

Anita saw Maria and Kurt first and offered her daily greeting to them, "Morning you two, breakfast is on the table in the kitchen. Help yourselves then off to work."

"Morning Anita, thank you." Was the joint reply of Maria and Kurt. They fell into a methodical rhythm over the past few months, never really having any time to feel any remorse or pain of what happened that night in the abbey. The truth was they were afraid for their lives every minute of every day. They had no idea if Nazis were lurking around the corners searching for them or even if their family made it out alive. What was worse-they had not the slightest notion if the other seven were even together.

Being her chipper self, Maria always tried to keep Kurt's spirits up by talking to him constantly and showing him more affection than ever before. For the first time in her life, she had no idea what was to happen, and that scared the living day out of her.

The duo sat down and helped themselves to the plates of eggs, toast with jam, and fruit.

"I think today I'll get to fixing all the wobbly bar stools in the dining room. A man almost fell off one last night." As of late Kurt tried to fill the awkward silences with conversations about work around the inn.

"Oh, that seems like a nice project for the day. Make sure to ask Klaus for any help you might need."

"Oh I will, mother, but he has a lot of more important things on his mind than worrying about some silly chairs. What will you do today?"

"Well Anita will be going to the market to do some shopping. I don't really feel like going out in the freezing cold so I think I'll be busying myself with the wash."

And this was how their day began. Instead of talk of frivolous days of picnicking and singing as they had done in Austria, Maria and Kurt moved like zombies doing chores and tasks around the inn. For lack of a better reason, they simply had to stay occupied for fear of growing into a deep depression. It had been like this since before Christmas, and it killed Maria to see her son losing so much of his spirit and fire he once had.

As she took the final sip of her tea and Kurt began clearing away the breakfast plates, she hurriedly offered up a silent prayer, wishing for any sign of guidance to help her and her son get through this most trying time in their lives. She couldn't help but feel nervous and scared as she carefully stood up from the table, trying to avoid knocking into anything with her slightly bulging belly...how she desperately wished Georg was with her right now.

*Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? *