A/N I'm sorry for the long wait - I've literally had the busiest week of my entire life! On the up side I'm now a legal adult which is great fun! Hope you enjoy this nice fluffy ending, I've got a much more angsty AU coming right up. If you're interested, I've put a link to Maria's necklace on my profile. Enjoy! xx
LAX to Vienna International, 6130 miles, 12 hours and 6 minutes.
When he walks through the door, there's something different about the air. It's lighter, somehow, buoyant, rising – so different from the heaviness he fled from. There's also no sign of the children. When he left, it wouldn't be unusual for Liesl to be sitting on the couch on her phone, texting away, and for the little ones to be playing My Sims Kingdom or whatever rubbish the gaming industry is trying to pass off as entertainment these days but now they're nowhere to be seen.
His nerves feel like frayed cables, sparking at the ends. It's going to be alright, he reminds himself. Just smile and hug them and give them the presents and act like nothing's ever been any different to how it was before Agathe. It'll be fine.
"DAD!" There's a screech then, from the hallway, and suddenly seven dripping, beaming bodies are colliding with his legs, flinging arms around him and clinging to his suit like they're never going to let him go. It overwhelms him, all of sudden, the feel of them, the love that crashes over his head like a tsunami, and he thinks that if drowning feels this good, he never wants to breathe again.
"Hello," he says, scooping Gretl into his arms and reaching out to touch each of them, a brush of Marta's hair, a stroke of Liesl's cheek, a hand on Friedrich's shoulder. "I missed you all."
"You did?" Liesl asks.
"Yes. Very much so."
Their smiles are the dawning of a new day.
He doesn't know how long he stands there in the hallway with them, but when he looks up, Maria is in the doorway, the soft lines of her body silhouetted against the diamond light spilling from the windows in sharp shards. Her smile is so beautiful that it takes his breath away.
"Thank you," he says. "Thank you so much."
"I didn't do anything."
The children have fallen silent, and he realises belatedly that he doesn't want to have this conversation here, in front of them, even though he's aching to step forward and take Maria into his arms and kiss her senseless right there and then. "You did. We'll talk later."
"Okay."
"Dad, did you really meet Maria because of a volcano?" Marta prods at his side.
"Yes, I did darling. How about we sit in the drawing room and you can tell me everything you've been up to. I can give you your presents as well."
"Presents!" Gretl shrieks and everyone laughs.
It's after dinner before he gets the chance to be alone with her. He's sitting in his study trying desperately to concentrate on the email he's sending out to his agent about taking a very long and well deserved and maybepossiblyeven permanent break when the knock comes.
"Come in," he calls, shutting down the program and turning in his chair. It's Maria. He feels his heart pound. "Hi. What can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to see you," she says, twisting her hands together. He attempts to ignore the way her new-looking dress clings to the curve of her waist, the way the colour makes her eyes shift like an ocean. "I feel like I've barely been able to talk to you all day. Did you have a good flight?"
"It was what it was. Oh, I almost forgot. This is for you."
He reaches over to the beautifully packages box that's been burning a hole in his suitcase ever since he came out of Cartier at Heathrow, and hands it to her. Surprise dashes across her face, and she bites her bottom lip. He forces himself to look away before he does something stupid.
"You didn't have to get me anything!"
"I wanted to. You can open it, if you want."
He watches her face as she carefully tears off the tissue and opens the box. A hand flies to her mouth. He feels the blood rushing through his veins.
"Georg…" her voice is awed. "This…wow…I can't accept it, I've really done nothing to…"
"Don't even go there. You've helped me rebuild my relationship with my children. That is absolutely priceless – there's no way I'll be able to thank you enough for it."
"But this…this is so beautiful…is that an actual sapphire? This is just…I think I'm in shock."
He laughs, and stands. "Would you like help putting it on?"
"Please."
He brushes her golden hair off her neck, and carefully does the clasp with shaking fingers. When it's done, she turns and wraps her arms tightly around him, resting her head against his shoulder. He hovers for a second, unsure, before gently placing his hands against her back and holding her to him. He can feel her heartbeat, feel something swelling inside him, filling him up with bubbles and butterflies, and when she pulls away slightly to look at him, he leans down and kisses her.
There are no words. It's as perfect as he'd imagined.
She sits on his lap with the weight of the sapphire sparkling at the hollow of her throat and traces every line of his face, committing it to memory. She just can't believe it. This is like a movie, a play, a book, this shouldn't be reality, it really shouldn't, but somehow it is and he's sitting there right in front of her with his warm hands on her waist and his wry half-smile and beautiful eyes and she feels as though fate has conspired to make her the happiest woman alive. Surely this is unfair. Surely one person isn't supposed to be this blessed.
"When did you know?" he asks, tracing one finger along her collarbone.
"Thingvellir," she says, laughing. "When I was dragging you around the entire park in the rain. Or when we said goodbye at the airport. It's so cliché but I think it's when. No, I don't know."
"You know, I almost kissed you that day in Thingvellir."
"Really?"
"Really, but then you ruined the moment when you started yodelling."
Her laugh is like the sunshine. "Oh yes, I remember. And what about you? When did it happen for you?"
"Oh the first day in the airport, definitely."
"What are we like? We could've saved ourselves so much effort."
He kisses her neck, and she shivers. "I don't think so. I think it would've taken a while."
"I don't believe you."
"Well, shall we just be thankful that it did happen?"
"Yes, yes. Just shut up and kiss me."
A year later
"Look, darlings, that's the volcano that set Dad and I up!"
"It's very quiet."
"Of course it's quiet, you muppet, it's dormant again."
"How do you pronounce it again Mum?"
"Eyjafjallajokull."
"What?"
"Okay, okay, off you go. Mum and I want some time alone."
"Don' fall off any cliffs!"
"We won't!"
Maria looks fondly after them as the children go scampering off in the direction of the visitor centre, and then up at the serene, snow-capped mountain towering majestically above them. "We certainly have a lot to thank you for, old chap."
Georg laughs, and pulls her in for a kiss, breathing in the smell of cold and ice and her. "That we do."
.The End.