Maria felt her horizons broaden even further during the weekend she and Georg stayed with Nikolas' family. True, she had grown up on a farm and found refuge in the hills as well as the fact that the von Trapp villa would have been considered by most to be a countryside dwelling. But Lyon was entirely different.

The family spent the whole of Saturday morning showing every inch of their estate off to their guests. The grounds of the von Trapp villa were all neat and ordered to perfection, while Nikolas' estate was not quite as rigid, but beautiful all the same. It matched it's owners the same way her home matched it's inhabitants. Though it still felt a little surreal for her to refer to the villa as her home; but in her heart she had never felt like she belonged anywhere more.

Nikolas and Gabrielle didn't mind at all that the couple they were hosting were on their honeymoon, giving their guests plenty of time just for themselves, during which Georg and Maria might as well have been back in the hotel suite in Paris.

In addition, to exploring the breathtaking French countryside with Georg, Maria was more than happy to occupy the children when the situation required, to the continual amazement of her husband and their hosts. They took great delight in pointing out which pony was theirs, as well as why they had chosen that particular one and so on and so forth, as well as telling her what their favourite colours were and what they liked to eat for breakfast.

Georg smiled as he witnessed these encounters, marvelling at how; once again his wife was so natural with children. Children that weren't even her own. 'Whatever would I have done without her?' he wondered.

"So, tell me Maria," Gabrielle said during Saturday's lunch. "Before you met Georg, did you always want to be a nun? Because, forgive me, but you hardly seem like the type of person suited to life in the convent."

"Oh yes. Ever since I was young," Maria replied.

"Why then did you get chosen to be the governess for Georg's children?" Nikolas asked.

"Well, I did go to teachers college," Maria said. "But I think it was mostly because I didn't fit in at the Abbey, no matter how hard I tried. I was late for everything, was always bursting out into song and I couldn't stop saying things about my feelings. The Reverend Mother thought that experiencing life outside the Abbey might help me when I returned."

"I can't really imagine Georg's children needing assistance with their studies," Nikolas said. "Given the sense of discipline their father possesses they probably could manage on their own."

"Most of the time they did," Maria said. "Although, there was this one day when Louisa pretended she was ill so she could stay in bed and do her lessons," Maria smiled at the memory. "I think she got Brigitta or someone to put the thermometer under the hot water. But I could tell she was faking it."

"I don't remember that," Georg said.

"You were in Vienna," Maria said. "In fact it was the day you arrived back home. I remember because I told Louisa that if she really was ill, then she couldn't come out on the rowboat with us. That was enough to change her mind."

"Ah, I see," he said. The mere mention of that afternoon was enough for his mind to start whirling into flashbacks of that fateful day. Similarly to how he'd responded yesterday when he first saw Nikolas' children he inwardly cringed and cursed himself, thinking about just how cold-hearted he'd been before Maria had entered his life. She had changed him. He was the one who had had medals awarded to him, been decorated by the Emperor and yet she was the one whose soul was pure as snow. How could he ever be worthy of her?

I didn't know you had gone to teacher's college," Georg said to Maria as they arrived in their room that night.

"Well, Captain," she teased. "We may be married, but there are still a lot of things you don't know about me."

"I know enough, and that's the main thing," he said, leaning in to kiss her. "I could see Louisa pretending to be ill so she could stay in bed all day. The children frightened their tenth governess off when Louisa put a bug in her salad."

"Yes, Louisa seems to be the mastermind behind all the awful tricks they play on people," Maria said. "Though surely a bug seems fairly harmless. You do know that it was a frog that they put in my pocket, plus I've heard stories about snakes and spiders and I think I remember Kurt saying they once put glue on Fraulein Josephine's toothbrush. A bug seems like nothing against all of that, even if it was in her salad."

"Well it wasn't just a bug," Georg said, hoping he could tell Maria this without her shrieking and waking the entire household. "It was a cockroach."

Maria's expression was more less what Georg had expected; her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "A cockroach!" she exclaimed, failing to keep her voice low.

Georg closed his eyes and nodded. "Bigger than your thumb," he added.

That time Maria really did scream. As quickly as he could, Georg clamped a hand over her mouth to drown out the noise.

This was one emotion Georg had not yet seen his wife display. Yes, he knew she was frightened after the incident at the party before she ran away, but that fear was more of a fear of the unknown, which was different to the fear she was displaying at the moment.

"I'm sorry Georg," she sobbed. "But I really can't stand cockroaches. There were always millions of them crawling around on my uncle's farm. They used to infest to loft that I slept in, and when I would mention it to him, he simply grunted and told me I had to put up with it."

By now, she was crying even more as the mere mention of her childhood years spent with her uncle always caused her to get very emotional. Sighing, Georg, took her in his arms, drew their bodies closer and lightly kissed away the tears running down her cheeks.

"Would you have walked out if Louisa had put a cockroach in your salad?" Georg asked her.

She took a deep breath. "No. I love the children too much to do that to them," she said. "I love you too much too."

Georg was going to tell her that that wasn't what he meant, but her words moved him so much that he abandoned that plan and leaned down and kissed her instead.

"I love you, too," he sighed.

On Sunday morning after breakfast the family all headed into town to go to church for Sunday Mass. As Maria and Georg were also attending, Camille stayed behind at the house; she had never been very religious, so she usually only attended to keep an eye on the children, something that Maria was happy to watch over Rudy, Danielle and Michel. She was already doing that anyway, simply because she loved it so much.

Mass prompted the children to bombard Maria with questions about what life as a nun was really like. Danielle was shocked to learn that they cut their hair and abandoned their worldly possessions, Rudy seemed stunned at the extent that they prayed; he could barely survive praying in church once a week. Michel on the other hand, being so young, wanted to know why nuns were only allowed to sing songs about Christ.

"That's just the way they run things in Abbey's," Maria told them. "Although, the Reverend Mother was actually the person who taught me the song about my favourite things."

"So, that song, doesn't really capture the things you yourself like?" Georg asked.

"Oh, no," Maria laughed. "The Reverend Mother had her own verses. The version I sung to the children is full of my own lyrics, about my own favourite things. It's just the same tune."

"Can you teach it to us?" Danielle asked.

"Please?" begged Michel.

So that's exactly what they did.

Monday morning arrived and after a late breakfast, when their bags were all packed, Maria and Georg bid Nikolas and his family farewell. Despite the children's protests, Nikolas himself was the only person who accompanied the couple to the railway station, along with Bernard, who drove the car.

Nikolas helped Georg load the luggage onto the train carriage while Maria went ahead and found a seat for her and her husband. Nikolas then exited the carriage, but promised to wait on the platform until the train had disappeared to see his friends off.

"So, we're going back to Paris then?" Maria asked. She reclined into Georg's arms as the train pulled out of the station.

"Er – no," he replied.

"No?" she sat up and looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

"No," he confirmed. "I'm taking you to Marseille. I want to show you my special place. Is that alright?"

"The ocean?" her eyes were wide with amazement. "I've never seen the ocean. That's more than alright." She sighed and leaned back into his embrace once more. "Oh, Georg, I love you so much that it hurts sometimes."

Okay, I'm so SO sorry that this took so long, but I hope you guys like it. The reference to the Reverend Mother teaching her 'My Favourite Things' was the fact that that is how it works in the musical. And there's another Julie Andrews movie reference in the chapter somewhere. I'll leave you to find it.

Please keep the comments coming. Auf Wiedersehen.