She'd never noticed his dimples before. But then again she'd never seen him smiling before. And now he never seemed to stop smiling. Gone was the infamous scowl, replaced by a playfulness that reached all the way to his eyes and caused his cheeks to dent in such an adorably boyish way that she could see the resemblance to Kurt. Now she could do nothing but notice. It seemed the Captain had a heart after all.
"Of course the children may put on a show for me Fraulein, though I can't promise I won't spy on all your rehearsals!" He said playfully, giving the children a wink and causing them to cheer happily at being granted permission. It was another beautiful day at 53 Aigen and he had joined them all on the grass for a game of cards, his jacket discarded next to him in a most uncharacteristic way and with Gretl sat in his lap as he helped her with her hand.
His newfound efforts with the children hadn't gone unnoticed by Maria either. He was going to great lengths to make sure he spent time with each of them, was patient with their silly foibles, and he took an interest in each of their needs - all the while sending the occasional nod of gratitude in Maria's direction to show that he had understood, that he had heard her.
"I thought you normally had Frau Schmidt spy on the governesses for you Captain.." Maria teased, as his eyebrows shot up in surprise and an amused smile tugged at his lips again. Two weeks ago, such an insubordination on her part would have caused him to seethe with anger. Instead, the dimples made another appearance.
"Touché Fraulein," he laughed, "I should remember nothing gets past the likes of you. Except perhaps a rogue pine cone.."
With a mischievous grin at Maria's bewildered expression, he began whispering in Gretl's ear, encouraging her to reveal their winning hand to the group and he let out a hearty laugh when the little girl gave a roar of triumph at their victory. Maria had never seen anything so endearing.
Taking an amused satisfaction in his ability to tease the Fraulein, Georg thought back to what had occurred only fourteen days ago. A truce. He had left her sopping wet and defeated on the veranda to follow the sound of his children's voices, as if hypnotised by a power greater than himself. And what he'd seen when he reached the drawing room had taken his breath away.
His children - his beautiful, loving, caring, neglected children - were singing before his very eyes. And it had been overwhelming. Unwilling to break the spell he had watched from afar, peaking from the doorway and allowing the music to wash over him. As the familiar lyrics had reached his ears, a long forgotten memory had invaded his thoughts.
"Georg my darling, you must come and see!" Agathe was bent over the cot of their first born, a beautiful smile adorning her features. Stretching and leaving the bed to come and join her, he put his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin in the crook of her neck, taking in the sight of their beautiful Liesl who fidgeted and cooed in the cot happily.
"She was smiling Georg, her first real smile!" Agathe craned her neck to kiss him on the cheek, her lips leaving a warm and comforting mark.
"Well sing it again darling, see if she smiles again," he whispered.
"To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over stones on its way..," her voice was nothing short of stunning and her lyrics broke with a small laugh when Leisl kicked her little legs happily and squealed, "to sing through the night, like a lark who is learning to pray..." a breathtaking smile graced Leisl's tiny features and Georg realised he'd never experienced a moment so perfect in his entire life.
The memory had stirred something powerful within him as he had stood unseen in the doorway, listening to his children and seeing his beloved Agathe in every single one of their sorrowful faces. He had felt a deep and sudden sense of shame then - shame that hit him square in the chest with vivid and startling clarity. He had forgotten. He had forgotten that particular memory, along with every other memory of the joy, the happiness, the laughter that had once radiated through their home. He had forgotten his Agathe and he had forgotten his children.
And before he knew it he had been clutching them all to his chest tightly, singing with them as Agathe would have wanted, as he silently begged for their forgiveness. A barrier around his heart had finally been broken and he had no one but number twelve to thank for it.
Humbled and grateful, he had apologised to her for his appalling behaviour, not just by the lake but ever since her arrival. He had realised suddenly, as he willed himself to look her in the eye, that Fraulein Maria was not the insolent, disobedient little girl he'd assumed her to be but a headstrong, caring and spirited young woman who asked nothing of him other than to love his children. And by God did he love them. This remarkable and unlikely person had helped him to remember and by doing so she had marked them as equals.
"Georg darling," Elsa's voice trilled from the veranda, breaking his reverie. He looked up from his position on the grass to see her beckoning him over, "care to try some pink lemonade?"
Smiling apologetically, he gently extricated Gretl from his lap and excused himself from the group, the look of exasperation on the children's faces not going unnoticed.
"Come now children, I can't neglect our guests all day, no matter how satisfying it is to win! Fraulein," he met her eyes again and Maria noted that the newfound warmth in them was still there. It made her stomach tighten slightly, "I trust I'll see you at 4pm as usual?"
She nodded. They had been meeting daily since his return to the villa to discuss the children's progress - at first she had dreaded the ritual, imagining an hour spent in his study being reprimanded for her failings as a governess. But she had quickly found that the stern and disagreeable Captain seemed to have vanished, having been replaced by a humbled and passionate man who took great interest not only in his children but in her own opinions, thoughts, achievements and anecdotes. Often the hour would turn into two, and talk of the children's progress would be long forgotten.
She watched him retreat towards the veranda, his jacket slung over his shoulder in such a relaxed and un-Captainly manner she found herself wondering if the shirt ever came off too. Shaking the startling image from her mind, she ignored the bizarre jolt deep in her belly and busied herself with shuffling the cards for another game.
Two more weeks had passed and a peaceful happiness had settled over the von Trapp villa. Georg had been dedicating his time to getting to know his children and he was more than aware of the fact he'd been neglecting Elsa and Max in the process. But he found himself growing increasingly more restless in their company, growing bored of their idle gossip and becoming easily distracted. He found himself wanting to seek out the company of his children, to seek out the company of their governess. He found himself wanting to discover more about her with each passing day. He found himself admiring her. He found himself falling.
"And you'll never guess who he ran away with Georg.." Elsa's eloquent voice broke through his thoughts.
"Hmm?" He replied absentmindedly. He was trying his best to listen but he'd suddenly spotted the Fraulein from his position on the veranda and he sat up a little straighter in his chair. His eyes followed her, as they so often did these days, and he watched as she hurried mischievously across the grass, unaware of their presence and glancing over her shoulder cautiously every now and again, as if being pursued. What on earth is she up to this time? Georg chuckled aloud, forgetting himself for a moment in front of his company.
"Well I hardly think it's funny Georg darling!" Elsa reprimanded with a wicked gleam in her eye, hitting his arm lightly.
Georg hardly noticed, "Hmm? Sorry darling?"
"Laughing at the fact that poor Baroness Kruger's son ran away with the maid!" She flashed him a flirtatious grin but he wasn't looking, "How positively wicked you are Georg!"
Max Detweiler had remained uncharacteristically quiet during this rather one-sided exchange and had been eyeing his friend like a hawk. Not once had Georg looked at Elsa, not once had he responded to her less than subtle attempts at flirtation, not once had he been truly present during their conversation. It seemed to be happening more and more these days and as he followed Georg's line of vision it became all too clear what had led to his friend's evident distraction. He watched Georg's expression soften and his body stiffen slightly as the lovely little governess flitted across the garden in front of them, her angelic face full of mischief and completely oblivious to her employer's brooding gaze. He wondered at what point Georg's respect for the girl had turned into admiration, attraction.. and whether he was even aware of it himself. The governess slipped out of sight behind the trees then, and Georg looked visibly agitated.
Elsa was still obliviously tittering away about the latest developments in Vienna and, just as Max was beginning to relax into the restored normalcy of the conversation, Georg placed his drink on the table and impulsively got to his feet.
"Do excuse me will you," He muttered absentmindedly and Max watched, perplexed, as his friend strode away towards the trees, Elsa's monologue interrupted by his swift and sudden exit.
Where the devil had she gone, Georg thought, as his legs seemed to carry him of their own accord in the direction he'd seen Maria going. Just as he was about to give up his ludicrous search, he spotted a delicate ankle hanging from one of the trees before it flashed out of sight, disappearing amongst the thick leaves.
He felt his loins burn slightly at the sight of her milky skin and he chastised himself for being so affected by an ankle of all things. It was ridiculous. He'd been with plenty of women in his youth and yet here he stood, breathless at the sight of her. When had his minor attraction to her developed into forbidden lust?
Maria nearly fell from her branch in alarm when she heard someone knocking on the trunk below her and she looked down to find a devilish Captain smirking up at her, his jaw cocked to one side in amusement.
"Just what on earth do you think you're doing Fraulein?"
Oh God, the dimples were back.
Acting on false courage, she found her voice and waved her hands to silence him, "Shhh Captain!" she hissed, "you're going to expose me!"
Georg looked at her, perplexed, trying hard to ignore the shapely legs that his position beneath her allowed him to see. Expose her? If only...
"Um.. I'm afraid I don't follow.."
"I'm involved in a very intricate game of Hide and Seek, Captain," she whispered urgently, "and you're going to give me away!"
"Ah, of course," he replied, "well we can't possibly have that, can we."
Maria watched, utterly baffled as the Captain jumped for the nearest branch and used the trunk for leverage, hoisting himself into the tree and balancing with ease. He took a seat next to her, his long legs dangling playfully beneath him.
"What?" He asked defensively at her dumbfounded expression.
"I... You.. I.., You'll ruin your suit," was her ridiculous reply. Somehow she couldn't quite verbalise that it was his youthful and carefree nature combined with the roguish masculinity of his climb that had thrown her. So irresistibly unlike the stoic authoritarian...
He chuckled, loosening his tie and she jerked her eyes away from his throat, feeling a flush creep up her cheeks at the sight of the light curls that escaped his collar. What on earth was it about the change in this man that suddenly caused her to feel hot all over - a sensation completely new and perplexing but addictive all at once.
"Do you like it?" He asked quietly.
"Wh.. What?" Was he talking about his chest hair?!
"The suit.." He asked, "it was Agathe's favourite - I haven't worn it in years but I used to love it..."
"Oh.. It's lovely," she smiled, letting out the breath she'd been holding as she relaxed slightly. It was true she'd never seen him in this particular suit before - it was a dark navy colour, slim cut across his masculine figure and it brought out his eyes. Those deep blue eyes that always seemed to act as a window to his soul, no matter how reserved he appeared on the outside. Those eyes that always seemed to be studying her intensely, as they were now, making her pulse quicken. Those eyes that once filled her with dread but now filled her with a confusing warmth. Yes, she thought, it was rapidly becoming her favourite suit too.
"So, who are we hiding from?" He whispered wickedly, nudging her arm and grinning again.
"Err... " think Maria, think, "Friedrich! Friedrich is it."
"Oh ho, well we'll be here a while then," he laughed, "the boy was never good at navigating, despite being the son of a sailor!"
Just as the Captain predicted, time seemed to escape them as they talked of everything and nothing - his navy days, Maria's time at the abbey, each of the children's births, how the Captain had met Max, books, art, music, authors.. even the threat of the impending Anschluss - and Maria found herself incredibly at ease. She found herself laughing at his anecdotes, becoming tearful at his stories of Agathe, and she listened gravely to his worries about their homeland.
"I don't know what I'll do if we lose this country to the Nazis," he sighed bitterly as Maria nodded sombrely, "It's where I've served my Emperor, where I've brought up my seven children, where I met my wife..."
The gravity of his words echoed around the silence as they each reflected on what would become of their home. With so much turmoil in the world, it was almost a relief to sit hidden amongst the leaves and bask in life's simpler pleasures.
"She would be very proud, Fraulein," he whispered, his eyes lost in thoughts of the past, "the children...the music... I... I thank you. I'm a better man because of it. Because of you."
Her breath caught in her throat at his admission and when she saw his fingers twitch in that endearing way that they did whenever he was agitated, she thought he was about to take her hand. Instead, he met her gaze, smiling gratefully and she was deeply moved by his humility - this heroic and complex individual who had faced great danger in his lifetime, had been decorated by the Emperor for his bravery, and yet had become utterly broken when he lost the love of his life. A stray lock of hair fell forward from his head then and she felt utterly lost, resisting the urge to brush it back in a gesture of comfort, her hand tingling in anticipation.
As if he somehow knew the route her thoughts had taken, his eyes suddenly darkened and bore into hers with a new intensity. The air around them began to pulsate with a dangerous charge and it made her entirely weak at the knees, her heart threatening to burst from her ribs. She knew she should say something but she was utterly transfixed, sat so close to him that they were sharing a heated breath. He leaned closer still and she could smell his cologne mixed with the scent of just him, making her head reel. What was he doing to her?
"Found you!" Friedrich suddenly burst into view below them in such a violent manner that the Captain jolted in alarm, toppling backwards off the branch and landing on the grass with a heavy thud.
"Captain!"
"Father!"
"Friedrich!" Georg groaned, the impact having knocked the wind out of him. Amidst the mayhem, he felt Maria land on her own two feet on the ground next to him, kneeling beside him with one hand absentmindedly placed on his chest in concern.
"Are you alright?" She breathed as he pulled himself to his feet, her hand seeming to have scorched his skin through his shirt where she had touched him.
"Yes yes I'm fine," he waved his hand in dismissal, smoothing out his suit and clapping Friedrich on the back to appease him, "don't look so frightened boy, your old man isn't so old he can't handle falling out of a tree from time to time."
"I'm so sorry father, I didn't realise you were playing the game too."
Georg had no idea what kind of game he was trying to play but as he watched Maria's delectable figure walking back towards the house with Friedrich - his mind wandering back to how he'd almost kissed her - he knew it was a dangerous one.